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v 


BON      WILLIAM     E.    GLADSTONE 


LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

OF 

HON.  WM.  E.  GLADSTONE 

CONTAINING  A 

Full  Account  of  the  Most  Celebrated  Orator  and 
Statesman  of  Modern  Times 

COMPRISING  THE 

GRAPHIC  STORY  OF  HIS  LIFE;  HIS  BRILLIANT  GENIUS  AND 
REMARKABLE  TRAITS  OF  CHARACTER;    GRAND 
ACHIEVEMENTS  AS  A  LEADER  AND  PRIME 
MINISTER;   HIS  MAGNIFICENT  TRI- 
UMPHS IN  GREAT  POLITICAL 
STRUGGLES,  ETC. 

A  NOBLE  EXAMPLE  TO  ALL  ASPIRING 

YOUNG  MEN 

INCLUDING 

His  FAMOUS  SPEECHES  AND  ORATIONS;  STRIKING  INCIDENTS  IN 
His  CAREER;  PERSONAL  ANECDOTES,  REMINISCENCES,  ETC. 

BY  D.  M.  KELSEY 

Author  of  "Gems  of  Genius,"  "Pioneer  Heroes  and  Their  Daring  Deeds,"  Etc. 


Embellished  with  a  large  number  of  Superb  Phototype  and 
Wood  Engravings 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1898,  b> 

J.     R.    JONES, 

la  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C 
All  Rights  Reserved. 


PREFACE. 


other  Englishman  of  the  past  or  the  present  has 
been  more  popular  in  this  country  than  Mr. 
Gladstone.  This  feeling  in  his  behalf  does  not 
spring  altogether  from  an  admiration  for  his  intellec- 
tual abilities,  or  the  broad  and  statesmanlike  views 
entertained  by  him.  Nor  has  it  arisen  only  from  sym- 
pathy with  the  liberality  of  his  opinions.  It  is  rather 
traceable  to  a  sincere  respect  for  his  capacity  for  growth. 
We  might  easily  elaborate  this  proposition  by  historical 
references ;  but  the  field  is  too  broad  for  thorough 
inspection  at  the  present  moment,  and  a  cursory  glance 
would  be  worse  than  useless. 

Believing  that  it  is  this  quality  which  has  made  him 
not  only  respected,  but  worthy  of  respect,  it  has  been 
the  aim  of  the  writer  to  trace  the  progress,  year  by 
year,  from  the  most  pronounced  Toryism  to  an  equally 
positive  Liberalism.  At  the  same  time  there  has  been 
no  effort  made  to  fit  the  facts  to  the  theory,  as  is  some- 
times done  under  similar  circumstances,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  nothing  of  the  kind  was  necessary. 

There  are  a  number  of  biographies  of  Mr.  Gladstone, 
of  more  or  less  value,  to  which  the  writer  begs  leave  to 
express  indebtedness.  Chief  among  them  is  the  careful 
work  of  Mr.  G.  B.  Smith,  in  whose  two  large  octavo  vol- 
umes there  is  almost  everything  needful.  A  "  London 
Journalist"  contributes  another  biography,  which  has 
not,  however,  been  brought  down  later  than  the  second 
administration  of  its  subject;  the  same  limitation  is 
applicable  to  the  volume  of  Mr.  G.  R.  Emerson.  Mr. 
C.  W.  Jones'  little  volume  is  an  admirable  one  as  far  as 


4  Preface. 

it  goes ;  and  Mr.  Lucy's  merit  in  connection  with  this 
subject  is  too  well  known  for  comment  to  be  necessary 
here.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  his  book  contains  no 
more  matter  than  an  average  magazine  article. 

In  addition  to  these  biographies,  there  has  been  fre- 
quent consultation  of  works  of  a  less  special  character. 
"The  Gladstone  Government,"  by  a  Templar;  T.  P. 
O'Connor's  "  Gladstone's  House  of  Commons,"  and 
Justin  McCarthy's  "England  Under  Gladstone,"  will 
at  once  suggest  themselves.  But  in  addition  to  these 
there  should  be  specified  the  Rev.  W.  N.  Molesworth's 
"  History  of  England  Since  1830,"  and  others  of  like 
character.  Cooke's  "  History  of  Party,''  McCarthy's 
"  Epoch  of  Reform,"  and  several  memoirs  of  the  time, 
have  been  used  in  writing  of  the  Reform  Bill  of  1832  ; 
and  there  has  been  careful  reference  to  special  biogra- 
phies of  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  others  of  similar  importance 
in  the  narrative. 

The  tone  of  these  works  has  been  so  uniformly  kind 
and  admiring  that  Louis  J.  Jennings'  work,  "  Mr.  Glad- 
stone :  a  Study,"  has  perhaps  been  invaluable  as  giving 
the  extreme  view  of  the  other  side  of  the  question. 

The  writer  has  also  studied,  in  this  connection,  Mr. 
Gladstone's  own  writings,  both  in  the  "  Gleanings  of 
Past  Years  "  and  elsewhere. 

Many  points  of  interest  have  been  drawn  from  the 
periodicals, — daily,  weekly,  and  monthly.  All  of  the 
leading  American  publications  have  been  made  to  con- 
tribute something;  while  Temple  Bar,  the  Times  and 
other  London  dailies,  and  the  London  illustrated  week- 
lies, may  be  named  in  the  same  connection.  Of  course 
the  whole  thread  of  the  latter  portion  of  the  narrative 
is  drawn  from  the  newspapers,  since  the  biography  is 
complete  up  to  the  time  of  issue. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ANCESTRY  AND  EDUCATION. 

Napoleon  and  Wellington — Great  Public  Questions — Family  of  the  Gladstones — 
Birth  of  the  Subject  of  the  Present  Memoir — Scotch  Parentage— Early 
Education — Wealth  of  the  Family — Sketch  of  Lord  Brougham — Mr. 
Gladstone  at  Eton — A  Culprit  Called  Up  for  Correction — Account  oi 
Arthur  Henry  Hallam — Papers  Published  at  Eton — Troubles  in  Ireland — • 
Canning  and  His  Ministry — Mr.  Gladstone  Brought  Up  as  a  Tory — Char- 
acteristic Anecdote— The  Future  Premier  at  Oxford — Life  as  a  Student — 
Early  Promise  of  Great  Distinction 19 

CHAPTER   II. 

THE  BEGINNING  OP  PUBLIC  LIFE. 

Interest  in  Political  Questions — Keaction  After  the  War — Destitution  of  the 
Colliers — Seats  in  Parliament  Bought  and  Sold — How  Elections  were 
Conducted — Duke  of  Wellington  as  Prime  Minister — Plan  of  Eeform 
Fury  of  the  Tory  Peers — Address  to  the  Electors  at  Newark — Mr.  Glad- 
stone Elected  to  Parliament— The  Slavery  Question — Eloquent  Speeches — 
Becomes  Identified  with  Great  Public  Questions — Rising  Star  in  the  Polit- 
ical Firmament 44 

CHAPTER   III. 

EARLY  OFFICIAL  LIFE. 

Whigs  Versus  Tories-  Trained  in  Early  Life  to  Speak  in  Public — Account  of 
Sir  Robert  Peel — Events  Following  the  Passage  of  the  Reform  Act — Mr. 
Gladstone  as  Junior  Lord  of  the  Treasury — Canadian  Troubles  of  1837 — 
Death  of  King  William  IV. — Address  to  His  Constituents — Accession  of 
Victoria  to  the  Throne — More  Agitation  of  the  Slavery  Question — Debate 
on  the  War  with  China— Queen  Victoria's  Marriage— Popularity  of  the 

Prince  Consort 69 

5 


6  Contents. 

CHAPTER    IV. 

GLADSTONE  VS.  DISRAELI. 

Repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws — Disraeli  in  Parliament — Hia  Extravagant  Rhetoric— 
Pithy  Sayings  and  Merciless  Satire — Free  Traders  and  Protectionists  — 
Division  Among  the  Tories — Gladstone's  Speech  on  the  Navigation  Laws 
— His  Growing  Liberalism— The  Condition  of  Canada — Colonial  Govern- 
ments— Remonstrance  of  France  and  Russia — Some  Account  of  Lord  Pal- 
merston — The  Celebrated  John  Bright — Mr.  Gladstone  Defends  His  Ac- 
tion— Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill — Mr.  Disraeli  in  the  Cabinet — Gladstone's 
Eulogy  on  the  Duke  of  Wellington — Overthrow  of  the  Ministry.  .  .  103 

CHAPTER   V. 

THE  MINISTRY  OF  ALL  THE  TALENTS. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  Early  Political  Faith— His  Act  of  Self-denial— First  Step 
Toward  Leaving  the  Conservative  Party — House  of  Commons  and  the 
New  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer— Grows  Eloquent  Over  a  Dry  Subject  — 
Debate  on  the  Income  Tax —Impending  War — Will  of  the  People  Must 
be  Obeyed — Measures  for  Raising  Revenue — Bitter  Taunts  from  Disraeli — 
Views  of  the  Prince  Consort — Miss  Florence  Nightingale  —The  Crimean 
War — Impressive  Scene  in  the  House  of  Commons  -New  Ministry  by 
Lord  Palmerston — Lord  John  Russell — Great  Speech  by  Mr.  Gladstone — 
Continuance  of  the  War  Debates 132 

CHAPTER    VI. 

PROGRESSING  TOWARDS  LIBERALISM. 

Treaty  Following  the  Crimean  War — Peace  Concluded  at  Paris — Agitation  Con- 
cerning the  Continental  Press — National  Education — Bill  Providing  for  the 
Enlistment  of  Foreigners — 111  Feeling  Between  Eng'and  and  America — 
Criticism  Upon  the  Government's  Foreign  Policy — Mr.  Gladstone's  Alliance 
with  His  Rival — Government  Losing  Strength  in  the  House  of  Commons — 
Majority  Against  the  Government — Attempt  to  Assassinate  the  Emperor  of 
the  French — Remarkable  Peroration  by  Mr.  Gladstone — Formation  of  a  New 
Cabinet — Lord  Derby  at  the  Front — Financial  Outlook  Depressing.  .  15? 

CHAPTER   VII. 

THE  PALMERSTON  MINISTRY. 

Lord  Macmulay — Eminent  Men  in  Parliament  -The  Ionian  Islands — Agitation  in 
Greece  —  Parliamentary  Reform— Foreign  Relations  of  England  —  Mr. 
Bright's  Return  to  Parliament — A  Man  Ahead  of  His  Time — Controversy 


Contents.  7 

Over  the  Reform  Bill — Mr.  Gladstone's  Speech  on  the  Pending  Question — 
Defeat  of  the  Ministry — Appeal  to  the  Country — Palmerston  in  Office — 
Fear  of  Invasion  by  France— Tax  on  Paper — Proceedings  in  the  House  of 
Lords — Liberals  and  Tories — Lord  Russell  Withdraws  His  Reform  Bill — 
Cross  Purposes  in  Parliament — Rivalry  Among  Opposing  Factions.  .  179 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

EMANCIPATION  FROM  TORYISM. 

Wet  Weather  and  Poor  Harvests — Dull  Session  in  Parliament — Post-Office  Sav- 
ings Banks— Garibaldi  and  His  Red  Shirt — Mr.  Gladstone  Defends  the 
Liberator  of  Italy — Improvement  in  the  Nation's  Finances — Protest  of  the 
Opposition— Bitter  Attack  on  Gladstone — Repeal  of  the  Paper  Duty — The 
Ionian  Islands  again — English  Opinion  and  the  American  Civil  War — 
Reduction  of  the  Income  Tax — Surplus  in  the  Revenues  for  1864 — The 
Working  Classes — Osborne's  Amusing  Speech — The  Question  of  Church 
and  State— Mr.  Gladstone  Declares  Himself  Unmuzzled 207 


CHAPTER    IX. 

REPRESENTING  SOUTH  LANCASHIRE. 

Love  for  the  University — Address  to  the  Electors  of  Liverpool — Popularity  in 
the  Large  Towns  Death  of  Lord  Palmerston — Grave  Concern  Over  the 
Irish  Troubles — Old  Question  of  Church  Rates — Criticism  of  the  Reform 
Bill — "Cave  of  Adullam" — Extension  of  the  Franchise — Gladstone's 
Victory— Speeches  in  Scotland — Ministry  Formed  by  Earl  Derby — A  New 
Reform  Bill — Raising  Income  for  the  Government — Public  Comment  on 
Mr.  Gladstone — Scotch  and  Irish  Affairs — The  Irish  Church — Majority 
for  the  Liberals — Various  Bills  in  the  Commons 234 

CHAPTER   X. 

THE  FIRST  GLADSTONE  MINISTRY. 

Prime  Minister  of  England — Disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church — Disraeli's 
Sarcasm — Eloquent  Defense  by  John  Bright — Opposition  Among  the 
Peers — Irish  Land  System — Bill  for  the  Relief  of  Ireland — System  of 
Education  English  Tourists  Seized  by  Greek  Brigands — War  Between 
France  and  Prussia — Russia's  Control  of  the  Black  Sea — Marriage  of  the 
Princess  Louise  Army  Regulation  Bill — Tory  Abuse  of  Mr.  Gladstone — 
Ballot  Bill — Proposal  to  Admit  Women  to  the  Franchise— Much  Opposi- 
tion to  the  Government — Able  Speeches  by  the  Premier 265 


8  Contents. 

CHAPTER   XI. 

THE  FIRST  GLADSTONE  MINISTRY. 
(CONTINUED.) 

Dangerous  Illness  of  the  Prince  of  Wales — Trouble  on  the  Liquor  Question- 
Gladstone's  Sharp  Retort  on  Disraeli — Army  of  Titmousea — Ballot  Bill 
Again  Introduced — Third  Attempt  to  Settle  the  Irish  Question — Justice  to 
Ireland — Gladstone  Determines  to  Eesign — Important  Changes  in  the 
Ministry — Disraeli's  Manifesto— Circular  to  the  Liberal  Members  of  Par- 
liament— Bill  for  the  Regulation  of  Public  Worship— Endowed  Schools — 
Gladstone's  Retirement  from  the  Leadership  of  the  Liberal  Party — Pre- 
paring for  New  Legislation — Active  Interest  in  Public  Affairs.  .  .  .  300 

CHAPTER  XII. 

GLADSTONE  IN  OPPOSITION. 

Eastern  Question — Turkey  Does  Nothing  but  Promise — Suicide  of  the  Turkish 
Sultan — Oriental  Races — Explanations  by  Disraeli — Raised  to  the  Peerage 
— Bulgarian  Horrors — Lord  Salisbury  in  the  East — Earl  of  Shaftesbury— 
Duke  of  Argyle — Lord  George  Hamilton — Gladstone's  Pamphlet  on  the 
Turkish  Question — Action  in  Parliament  on  the  Turkish  Situation — Pro- 
tracted Debate— Vote  of  Credit— "  Peace  with  Honor"— Sir  Stafford 
Northcote — Gladstone  Arraigns  the  Government — Triumphal  March 
Through  Scotland—"  Grand  Old  Man  "—Great  Ovations  Everywhere.  318 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE  SECOND  GLADSTONE  MINISTRY. 

Great  Liberal  Majority — Importance  of  the  Irish  Question — Mr.  Bradlaugh  in 
Parliament — Lord  Randolph  Churchill — Great  Expectations  from  the 
Gladstone  Ministry — Treaty  of  Berlin  Concerning  Montenegro— Claims 
of  Greece — Trying  to  Adjust  Domestic  Taxes — Game  Laws — Post-office 
Department — Illness  of  Mr.  Gladstone — Irish  Land  Law  not  Satisfactory 
— Peace  Preservation  Act — Irish  Evictions — Home  Rulers — Land  League 
— Long  Debate — Coercion  Bills — Eloquent  Speech  of  John  Bright — Mem- 
orable Scene  in  the  House  of  Commons — Ludicrous  Incidents — Mr.  Par- 
nell  and  Irish  Legislation— Final  Passage  of  the  Irish  Bill 359 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  SECOND  GLADSTONE  MINISTRY. 
(CONTINUED.) 

Mr.  Bradlaugh  Once  More — Home  Rule — The  Lords  and  the  Land  Act — Amend- 
ment of  the  Rules — Arrears  Bill— Concessions  to  the  Irish — Phoenix  Park 


Contents.  9 

Murders  —  Crimes  Bill — Obstruction — Friends  Failing— The  Egyptian 
Question— Bombardment  of  Alexandria— Autumn  Session — Forster's  At- 
tack on  Gladstone— The  Reply— Explosives  Bill— And  Still,  Mr.  Brad- 
laugh— Minor  Legislation — The  Soudan  Difficulties— Irrepressible  Mr. 
Bradlaugh — The  Egyptian  Trouble  Continues— The  Afghan  Boundary — 
Failure  of  the  Soudan  War — The  Budget—  A  Sleepy  Time — Waking  Up — 
A  Great  Speech — A  Great  Surprise — Fall  of  the  Ministry 387 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THIRD  AND  FOURTH  ADMINISTRATIONS. 

Mr.  Gladstone  Again  in  Scotland — Lord  Salisbury  on  Public  Questions — Result 
of  the  Elections — Third  Gladstone  Ministry — Advocates  Giving  Ireland 
the  Right  to  Make  Her  Own  Laws — Irish  Land  Purchase  Bill — Second 
Reading  of  Irish  Home  Rule  Bill — Eloquent  Appeal  on  Behalf  of  Ireland 
— Irish  Bills  Condemned  by  John  Bright — Rupture  Between  tlie  Two 
Great  Leaders — General  Election  of  1886 — Defeat  cf  the  Liberals— Policy 
of  Coercion — Action  of  the  Tory  Government — The  Premier's  Retirement 
—Lord  Rosebery,  Successor  to  Mr.  Gladstone 416 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

PERSONAL  CHARACTERISTICS,  DOMESTIC  RELA- 
TIONS, AND  LITERARY  CAREER. 

Estimates  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  Ability — General  Appearance — Not  a  Narrow  Man 
— Marriage  and  Home  Life — Hawarden  Estate — Mannerisms — Speeches 
and  Literary  Style— Spontaneous  Eloquence  -  Great  Party  Leader — Student 
and  Man  of  Letters — Private  Library — Scholar  and  Writer— Religious 
Character 430 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

MR.  GLADSTONE'S  DEATH  AND  OBSEQUIES. 

Mr.  Gladstone  in  the  South  of  France — Return  from  Cannes — Signs  of  Growing 
Weakness — Peaceful  Death — Universal  Demonstrations  of  Grief— Tele- 
grams 01  Sympathy — Adjournment  of  the  House  of  Commons— The 
Queen  and  Prince  of  Wales  Express  Their  Sympathy— Tributes  from  the 
Newspaper  Press — Telegrams  from  the  Government  of  the  United  States — 
Estimate  of  Mr.  Gladstone  by  Prominent  Americans — Lying  in  State  at 
Westminster — Great  Throngs  of  People  View  the  Remains — Remarkable 
Demonstration  at  Mr.  Gladstone's  Public  Funeral — Burial  in  Westminster 
Abbey 449 


10  Contents. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
MR.  GLADSTONE  ON  THE  ARMENIAN  QUESTION. 

Not  a  Party  Question — The  Resolutions — Dreadful  Words  to  Speak — Witnesses 
to  the  Massacres — Report  of  Dr.  Dillon — Plunder,  Murder,  Rape,  and 
Torture — Responsibility  of  the  Turkish  Government— The  Turk  Ought  to 
March  Out  of  Armenia — What  is  to  Become  of  Christians  in  the  Turkish 
Empire?— Sad  and  Terrible  Story 462 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

GLADSTONE  ON  THE  BEAOONSFIELD   MINISTRY. 

Dissolution  of  Parliament — Reply  to  Opponents — A  Serious  Position — Policy  of 
the  Government — Responsible  for  Other  Countries — Turkey  a  Scandal  to 
the  World — Derby  and  Beaconsfield — Turkey  Encouraged  to  Go  to  War — 
Treaties  With  European  Nations — Policy  of  Austria — Worshippers  of 
Success — Treatment  of  the  Sultan — Tory  Government  to  be  Tried  by  its 
Principles 473 

CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  IRISH  QUESTION. 

Personal  Explanation — Domestic  Government  for  Ireland— Six  Conditions  for 
Home  Rule — Repelling  Attacks  Trivial  Disputes — All  Great  Movements 
Small  in  the  Beginning — Failure  of  Parliament  to  Legislate  for  Ireland — 
Attempt  to  do  Justice  to  the  Irish — Union  of  the  Kingdoms  to  be  Main- 
tained— Irish  Affairs  to  Be  Settled  in  Ireland — Movement  Against  Rent — 
Mr.  ParnelFs  Party — Central  Authority — Home  Rule  to  Be  Safeguarded — 
Urgency  of  the  Question — Charge  of  Being  in  Haste 489 


LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

OF 

WILLIAM  E.  GLADSTONE. 


CHAPTER   I. 

ANCESTRY  AND  EDUCATION. 

Napoleon  and  Wellington — Great  Public  Questions — Family  of  the  Gladstones — 
Birth  of  the  Subject  of  the  Present  Memoir — Scotch  Parentage  —  Early 
Education — Wealth  of  the  Family — Sketch  of  Lord  Brougham — Mr. 
Gladstone  at  Eton — A  Culprit  Called  Up  for  Correction — Account  of 
Arthur  Henry  Hallam — Papers  Published  at  Eton — Troubles  in  Ireland — 
Canning  and  His  Ministry — Mr.  Gladstone  Brought  Up  as  a  Tory— Char- 
acteristic Anecdote  —The  Future  Premier  at  Oxford — Life  as  a  Student — 
Early  Promise  of  Great  Distinction. 

aT  the  close  of  the  year  1809  Napoleon  was  at  the  very  sum- 
rait  of  his  glory.   Austria  and  Russia  were  in  terror  of  his 
name;  Italy  and  Spain  were  his  submissive  dependents; 
his  own  France  looked  at  him  with  adoring  eyes ;  Prussia 
had  been  crushed  to  the  earth  ;  Sweden  had  chosen  one  of  his  gene- 
rals as  the  heir  to  her  crown ;  Greece  had  no  separate  existence, 
but  was  merely  a  province  of  Turkey;   England  alone  preserved 
her  independence  of  thought,  feeling  and  action. 

But  though  England  sturdily  held  her  own,  she  was  not  unim- 
pressed by  the  power  of  the  conqueror.  She  had  felt  the  weight 
of  his  iron  hand,  but  had  shaken  it  off.  The  council  of  Berlin 
had  endeavored  to  cripple  her  resources  by  shutting  the  ports  of 
Europe  to  her  ships.  Had  the  measure  been  carried  out,  the  effect 
would  indeed  have  been  ruinous  to  England  ;  but  the  thing  was 
impracticable ;  and,  one  after  another,  the  various  countries  found 
that  they  must  connive  at  the  violation  of  this  article  of  the  treaty. 
Meanwhile,  the  English  armies  were  in  the  field,  headed  by  that 
very  Duke  of  Wellington,  then  simple  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  who 
was  to  be  the  final  victor  in  the  great  struggle. 

George  III.  was  king  of  England,  and  in  possession  of  as  much 
mind  as  nature  had  chosen  to  give  him ;  he  had  been  insane  at 
more  than  one  time  before  this,  but  had  recovered  ;  and  had  not 
yet  sunk  into  that  long  period  of  imbecility  from  which  only 

19 


20 


Ancestry  and  Education. 


death  delivered  him.  The  Duke  of  Portland  was  Prime  Minis- 
ter j  the  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  so  important  a 
minister  in  this  time  of  war,  was  George  Canning,  the  fame  of 
whose  eloquence  had  gone  through  the  land  ten  years  before. 
Besides  the  measures  relating  to  the  war,  which  of  course  oc- 
cupied the  thoughts  of  all  men  to  the  exclusion  of  much  which 
would  otherwise  have  claimed  their  attention,  there  were  two 
questions  of  importance  that  at  this  date  were  continually  forc- 
ing themselves  into  prominence ;  these  were  the  slave-trade,  of 
which  we  shall  have  more  to  say  hereafter,  and  Catholic  Eman- 
cipation— a  sub-division  of  that  great  Irish  Question  which  has 

been  a  cause  of  per- 
plexity to  English  rul- 
ers and  their  advisers 
since  the  days  of  Hen- 
ry II.  The  most  ardent 
and  best  known  advo- 
cate of  this  latter  meas- 
ure was  no  other  than 
the  disciple  of  Pitt, 
who  had  been  so  active 
an  assistant  to  the  gov- 
ernment which  had 
passed  the  Irish  Act  of 
Union  in  1800;  and  the 
name  of  Canning  is  in- 
dissolubly  linked  with 
the  memory  of  this  act 
of  long-delayed  just- 
ice. We  hardly  realize 
the  severity  of  the  laws 
against  the  communicants  of  the  Church  of  Eome,  as  they  existed 
at  this  period,  in  what  we  are  accustomed  to  regard  as  the  most 
enlightened  and  liberal  country  of  Europe  ;  excluded  from  every 
office  of  trust,  civil  or  military,  they  could  not  make  their  griev- 
ances known  to  the  legislature,  for  every  member  of  that  body, 
whether  of  the  Lords  or  the  Commons,  must,  before  taking  his 
seat,  take  such  oaths  as  were  impossible  to  a  Catholic.  Their 
only  hope  was  in  the  generosity  of  their  enemies ;  and  of  these, 
Canning  was  the  first,  after  Pitt  had  been  obliged  to  break  his 
promises  to  them,  to  urge  their  claims. 


George  Canning. 


GATEWAY   FROlti    HAWARDEN    RECTtiRY  TO  THE  CHURCH 


Ancestry  and  Education.  21 

In  times  of  peace,  the  thoughts  of  the  wise  statesman  and  the 
prudent  citizen  turn  to  the  improvements  which  it  is  possible  to 
make  in  the  condition  of  the  country  or  the  race  ;  in  times  of 
war,  the  same  men  are  only  anxious  to  preserve  the  advantages 
which  have  already  been  obtained.  To  apply  this  axiom  to  En- 
glish politics  and  political  parties,  men  incline  to  Conservatism 
in  war  and  Liberalism  in  peace.  Those  who  are  Conservatives 
in  quiet  times  will  naturally  have  this  feeling  strengthened  at  a 
period  of  doubt  and  anxiety,  and  become  Tories,  Such,  at  any 
rate,  was  the  case  with  a  great  merchant  of  Liverpool,  at  the 
date  of  which  we  write;  but  his  ancestry,  his  education,  his  suc- 
cess in  life,  and  his  Toryism,  are  all  of  such  importance  to  the 
pages  which  follow,  that  we  are  not  ready  to  begin  his  history 
in  the  year  1809. 

The  family  of  the  Gledstanes  or  Gladstanes  was  settled  in  Clydes- 
dale at  an  early  day.  In  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury they  were  landed  proprietors  in  that  county,  and  some  of 
the  name  are  known  to  have  been  in  business  at  Biggar  for 
more  than  fifty  years  before  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  They 
were  uniformly  successful  in  their  efforts  to  make  a  living,  if  we 
may  judge  from  the  record  of  those  who  retired  from  active  bus- 
iness life  to  the  calm  and  quiet  of  the  estates  which  they  had 
themselves  acquired;  for  this  seems  to  have  been  a  younger 
branch  of  the  family,  who  derived  no  share  of  the  estates  of 
Arthurshiel  and  Gladstanes,  the  first-mentioned  as  possessed  by 
those  bearing  this  now  widely  honored  name. 

Some  differences  in  the  spelling  of  the  family  cognomen  will 
be  noted.  The  orthography  above  given  seems  to  have  prevail- 
ed until  the  middle  of  the  last  century;  for  it  is  Thomas  Glad- 
stones, who  was  born  in  1732,  who  first  writes  it  with  an  "  o"  in 
the  last  syllable.  This  was  the  grandfather  of  the  great  states- 
man. He  left  his  father's  house  and  settled  in  Leith,  where  he 
married.  A  numerous  family  grew  up  around  him,  the  eldest  of 
whom  was  a  son  called  John.  His  business  in  the  corn  trade  was 
so  well  managed  and  successful  that  he  was  able  to  make  gener- 
ous provision  for  each  of  the  twelve  children  who  grew  to  man- 
hood and  womanhood. 

John  Gladstones  had  scarcely  attained  his  majority  when 
he  was  sent  by  his  father  to  Liverpool,  to  sell  a  cargo  of 
grain  which  had  arrived  at  that  port.  The  young  Scotchman  had 
dealings  with  a  leading  corn  merchant  of  that  place,  the  head  of 


22  Ancestry  and  Education. 

the  house  of  Corrie  &  Co.;  aud  displayed  such  capabilities  for 
business  that  Mr.  Corrie  wrote  to  the  elder  Gladstones,  request- 
ing him  to  allow  his  son  to  remain  in  Liverpool.  So  well  did  the 
young  man  fulfill  the  promise  of  his  first  acquaintance,  that  be- 
fore very  long  we  find  the  firm  of  Corrie  &  Co.  merged  into  a 
new  house,  with  the  name  of  Corrie,  Gladstones  &  Bradshaw 
above  its  doors.  The  new  member  of  the  firm  soon  made  hia 
name  a  synonym  for  push  and  energy  ;  and  at  least  one  occasion 
is  recorded,  when,  by  his  activity,  perseverence  and  indomitable 
pluck,  he  saved  the  house  from  utter  ruin. 

After  being  a  member  of  this  firm  for  sixteen  years,  John 
Gladstones,  upon  the  retirement  of  his  partners,  associated  his 
brother  with  him  in  the  business,  and  largeJy  extended  the 
range  of  his  transactions.  With  these,  however,  we  have  little 
to  do;  it  is  enough  to  have  seen  something  of  the  success  with 
which  he  met,  and  know  what  was  his  standing  among  men.  He 
had  made  his  name  well  known  in  the  country  of  his  adop- 
tion, even  before  it  was  made  illustrious  by  his  famous  son. 
That  name,  it  will  again  be  observed,  still  differed  slightly  from 
the  form  which  is  so  familiar  to  us  ;  the  final  "  s"  was  retained 
until  the  year  1834,  when  an  act  of  Parliament  sanctioned  the  dis- 
use of  it ;  though  the  name  seems  practically  to  have  had  its 
present  form  for  some  years  before  that  date. 

Mr.  John  Gladstone's  first  wife  died,  leaving  no  children  ;  and 
after  a  due  interval,  the  merchant,  who  seems  still  to  have  had 
frequent  communication  with  his  Scotch  home,  though  all  his  six 
brothers  had  settled  in  Liverpool,  married  Ann,  the  daughter  of 
Mr.  Andrew  Robertson,  of  Stornoway.  One  who  knew  the  second 
Mrs.  Gladstone  intimately  says  of  her  that  she  was  ".a  lady  of 
very  great  accomplishments,  of  fascinating  manners,  command- 
ing presence,  and  high  intellect;  one  to  grace  any  home  and  en- 
dear any  heart."  Of  the  six  children  of  this  marriage,  thd  sec- 
ond was  born  Dec.  29,  1809,  and  was  named  WILLIAM  EWAET 
GLADSTONE. 

In  addition  to  the  personal  qualities  of  the  statesman's  mother, 
to  which  we  have  just  heard  such  glowing  tribute  paid,  she  was 
descended,  genealogists  claim,  from  a  stock  held  in  high  honor. 
No  less  an  authority  than  Sir  Bernard  Burke,  perhaps  the  high- 
est that  could  be  quoted  in  such  a  connection,  gives  a  royal  ances- 
try to  him  who  might  well  be  called,  like  a  statesman  of  an  older 
day,  the  Great  Commoner.  The  editor  of  the  Peerage  traces  the 


Ancestry  and  Education. 


23 


descent  of  Ann  Kobertson  Gladstone,  step  by  step,  back  to  that 
James  of  Scotland,  who,  in  his  captivity,  fell  in  love  with  Lady 
Jane  Beaufort,  a  descendant  of  Henry  III.  of  England.  Other 
authorties  add,  that  besides  this  claim  to  the  blood  of  the  Bruce, 
the  Eobertsons  were  akin  to  the  ancient  kings  of  Man  and  some 
other  notable  nobles  of  the  far  past.  Burke  is  too  excellent  an 
authority  to  be  met  on  his  own  ground ;  his  assertions  in  such  a 
case,  made  confidently  as  they  are  in  this,  are  not  to  be  lightly 
set  aside  j  and  no  one  has  had  the  temerity  to  do  so.  But  if  the 


Birthplace  of  Gladstone,  Rodney  Street,  Liverpool. 

statement  that  Gladstone  is  descended  from  Kobert  Bruce  and 
the  Plantagenets  has  never  been  contradicted,  it  is  treated  with 
the  most  sovereign  contempt  by  the  one  most  interested.  Glad- 
stone has  spoken  of  his  ancestors,  indeed  j  but  if  he  is  proud  of 
any,  it  is  of  those  who,  by  their  own  energy  and  honorable  en- 
terprise, have  carved  their  own  fortunes,  and  risen  to  positions 
of  public  esteem  and  eminence.  "When,  in  November,  1865,  the  Par- 
liamentary Reform  Union  presented  an  address  to  him  in  the  Glas- 
gow Trade  Hall,  he  thanked  those  who  had  signed  the  address 
for  reminding  him  of  his  connection  with  Scotland  ;  and  added  : 
"If  Scotland  is  not  ashamed  of  her  sons,  her  sons  aro  not 
ashamed  of  Scotland;  and  the  memory  of  the  parents  to  whom 
I  owe  my  being  combines  with  various  other  considerations  to 


24  Ancestry  and  Education. 

make  me  glad  and  thankful  to  remember  that  the  blood  which 
runs  in  my  veins  is  exclusively  Scottish." 

A  little  later  than  this,  he  had  occasion  to  deliver  an  address 
at  the  Liverpool  Collegiate  Institute,  in  which,  in  frank  and 
manly  words,  the  Prime  Minister  of  Great  Britain  recounted  his 
obligations  to  commerce.  Standing  in  his  native  city,  before 
ihose  to  whose  fathers  and  grandfathers  his  father  had  been 
known  as  one  of  the  most  eminent  merchants  and  shipowners  in 
Lancashire,  he  said : 

"  I  know  not  why  commerce  in  England  should  not  have  its 
old  families,  rejoicing  to  be  connected  with  commerce  from  gen- 
eration to  generation.  It  has  been  so  in  other  countries  j  I  trust 
it  will  be  so  in  this  country.  I  think  it  a  subject  of  sorrow,  and 
almost  of  scandal,  when  those  families  who  have  either  acquired 
or  recovered  wealth  or  station  through  commerce,  turn  their 
backs  upon  it,  and  seemed  to  be  ashamed  of  it.  It  certainly  is 
not  BO  with  my  brother  or  me.  His  sons  are  treading  in  his 
steps,  and  one  of  my  sons,  I  rejoice  to  say,  is  treading  in  the 
steps  of  my  father  and  my  brother." 

Whatever  illustrious  names,  then,  may  bo  ranked  among  his 
mother's  ancestors  in  the  fifteenth  century,  it  is  clear  that  the 
statesman  himself  makes  no  claim  to  a  connection  with  any  but  the 
middle  class,  as  it  is  ranked  in  England.  But  it  will  be  remem- 
bered that,  with  all  the  advantages  which  are  the  perquisites  of 
birth  and  wealth,  the  aristocracy  has  produced  fewer  really  great 
men  than  this  same  middle  class ;  and  it  will  be  found,  upon 
careful  consideration,  that  the  majority  of  these  few  that  we  con- 
cede  to  them,  are  sprung,  not  of  the  old  houses,  but  of  those  re- 
cently ennobled.  The  Grand  Old  Man  has  reason  to  be  proud  that 
he  sprang  from  the  middle  class  ;  and,  to  use  an  antithesis  sim- 
ilar to  his  own  when  he  spoke  of  Scotland  and  her  sons,  we  may 
add  that  the  middle  class  is  proud  of  him. 

When  we  have  once  fairly  begun  upon  the  story  of  the  states- 
man's life,  we  shall  turn  aside  only  to  notice  those  of  his  contem- 
poraries who,  in  any  respect,  approach  to  the  plane  upon  which 
he  stands  j  let  us,  then,  in  this  place,  trace  out  something  further 
of  his  family,  as  we  shall  not  again  return  to  the  subject. 

Mr.  John  Gladstone  had  already  been  chairman  of  the  West 
India  Association  when,  in  1814,  his  name  was  closely  associated 
with  the  trading  carried  on  with  the  East  Indies.  The  old 
monopoly  was  broken  in  that  year,  and  his  firm  was  the  first  to 


Ancestry  and  Education. 


25 


send  a  private  vessel  to  the  ports  so  long  under  the  control  of 
the  East  India  Company.  Nor  was  he  progressive  and  enter- 
prising in  matters  relating  to  his  business  alone.  It  is  interesting1 
to  trace  in  the  father  the  liberal  public  spirit,  the  breadth  of 
view,  and  the  desire  for  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of 


Gladstone  and  His  Sister  (From  a  picture  painted  in  1811). 

every  class,  that  have  so  long  been  manifested  in  the  son.  The 
fact  that  he  addressed,  with  no  mean  eloquence,  a  meeting  which 
was  called  in  1818  "to  consider  the  propriety  of  petitioning  Par- 
liament to  take  into  consideration  the  progressive  and  alarming 
increase  in  the  crimes  of  forging  and  uttering  forged  notes  of 
the  Bank  of  England/'  may  be  thought  only  proper  to  the  prud- 
ent and  prominent  business  man,  anxious  to  check  the  spread  of 
an  oifence  peculiarly  troublesome  to  him  and  his  associates.  His 
activity  in  another  matter,  however,  shows  him  to  be  warm- 
hearted as  well  as  keen-sighted.  It  was  by  his  efforts  that,  in 
1823,  the  Steamboat  Act  included  a  provision  that  each  vessel 
should  be  obliged  to  carry  a  sufficient  number  of  boats  to  accom- 
modate the  passengers,  in  case  of  any  accident  j  a  simple  enough 


26  Ancestry  and  Education. 

precaution  it  seems  to  us,  but  so  neglected  previous  to  this  time 
that,  in  one  case,  a  public  packet-boat  which  was  wrecked  with 
nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  souls  on  board,  had  only  one  small 
shallop,  twelve  feet  long,  to  convey  the  passengers  and  seamen  to 
shore.  It  was  also  due  to  him  that  means  were  taken  to  enlist  the 
general  sympathy  for  the  Greeks,  when  they  were  struggling  for 
their  independence;  and  he  spoke  most  impressively  at  the  meet- 
ing which  was  held  for  that  purpose. 

These  are  but  a  few  actions  which  show  the  character  of  the 
man.  That  he  did  not  lack  appreciation,  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  a  magnificent  service  of  plate,  consisting  of  twenty-eight 
pieces,  was  formally  presented  to  him  in  the  name  of  his  fellow- 
townsmen  in  1824;  the  inscription  ran  v  "To  John  Gladstone, 
Esq.,  M.  P.,  this  service  of  plate  was  presented  MDCCCXXIV, 
by  his  fellow-townsmen  and  friends,  to  mark  their  high  sense  of 
his  successful  exertions  for  trade  and  commerce,  and  in  acknowl- 
edgment of  his  most  important  services  rendered  to  the  town  of 
Liverpool." 

While  probably  not  possessed  of  the  scholarship  which  has  en- 
abled the  Premier  to  turn  from  the  cares  of  state  to  enjoy  Hom- 
er, Mr.  Gladstone  was  well  able  to  express  his  opinions  on  paper 
in  such  a  way  that  men  were  glad  to  read  them.  His  contribu- 
tions to  the  literature  of  the  day  have  not  survived,  because  they 
were  from  their  very  nature  ephemeral ;  but  they  had  their  share 
in  molding  the  opinions  of  the  men  who  made  the  laws  by  which 
England  is  now  governed. 

This  Mr.  Gladstone  was  a  member  of  Parliament  for  nine  years 
in  all,  representing  several  boroughs  at  different  times.  For  a 
portion  of  the  time  that  he  sat  in  the  House  of  Commons,  his  son 
was  a  member  of  the  same  body ;  and  he  heard  the  earliest  efforts 
of  that  persuasive  eloquence  which  has  been  able  to  make  even  a 
dry  array  of  figures  interesting.  Partly  out  of  recognition  of  his 
own  services,  partly  as  a  compliment  to  his  son,  he  was  created 
a  baronet  in  1845,  during  the  second  administration  of  Sir  Eobert 
Peel.  He  died  six  years  later,  his  title  descending  to  his  eldest 
son,  Thomas.  Sir  Thomas  Gladstone  was  as  long  a  member  of  Par- 
liament, though  completely  overshadowed  by  hisyounger  brother. 
Ho  enjoyed  the  reflected  glory  of  being  frequently  mistaken  for 
the  distinguished  member  of  the  family,  so  strong  was  the  resem- 
blance between  them;  though,  of  course,  it  was  only  those  who 
were  comparative  strangers  who  were  liable  to  this  error.  A  third 


Ancestry  and  Education.  27 

brother  was  a  captain  in  the  army,  then  M.  P.  for  Portarlington  ; 
and  a  fourth  was,  like  his  father,  a  merchant  of  Liverpool — the 
same  to  whom  reference  was  made  in  the  speech  at  the  Collegi- 
ate Institute.  Of  the  two  sisters,  neither  was  ever  married. 

Sir  John  Gladstone's  enormous  wealth  enabled  him  to  make  a 
handsome  provision  for  each  of  his  children  during  his  lifetime, 
without  crippling  his  own  resources.  Thus  that  son  to  whom  na. 
ture  had  been  most  generous  in  her  gifts  of  intellect  was  enabled 
to  devote  his  time  to  the  consideration  of  those  questions  which 
should  occupy  the  mind  of  a  statesman,  without  being  compelled 
to  enter  the  arena  of  that  life  in  which  bread  must  be  won  by 
hard  and  continuous  labor.  This  advantage,  we  are  taught  by 
the  example  of  others,  is  not  entirely  necessary  to  the  devel- 
opment of  genius;  but  even  genius  cannot  afford  to  neglect  any 
assistance  which  may  be  offered. 

In  the  year  1812,  a  general  election  was  held,  and  in  this  Mr. 
John  Gladstone  took  a  keen  interest.  A  Conservative  in  time  of 
peace,  he  had  become  an  ardent  Tory,  and  supported  Mr.  Can- 
ning with  all  the  warmth  of  enthusiasm.  This  eloquent  orator  had 
been  before  the  public,  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
for  almost  twenty  years ;  and  it  was  only  five  years  after  his  first 
election  that  he  had  reached  the  summit  of  his  reputation  as  a 
speaker,  by  his  brilliant  advocacy  of  the  abolition  of  the  slave 
trade,  and  his  bitter  sarcasms  regarding  the  "  New  Philosophy," 
as  the  doctrines  of  the  French  Revolutionists  were  styled.  He 
had  not  been  silent  when  the  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus  act 
was  moved  and  carried  in  the  year  1794,  and  bills  intended  to 
suppress  seditious  meetings  were  hurried  through  Parliament; 
his  eloquent  speeches  had  been  eagerly  looked  for  in  the  days  of 
the  Irish  Rebellion  of  1798.  A  zealous  adherent  of  Pitt,  when  that 
statesman  went  out  of  office  he  resigned,  too,  though  his  chief  ad- 
vised him  not  to  do  so.  The  issue  of  the  hour,  in  Canning's  eyes, 
was  CatholicEmancipation,  and  the  electioneering  speeches  which 
he  made  were  full  of  it.  This  had  been  a  darling  scheme  of  Pitt's, 
ever  since  the  Union;  but  George  III.  had  been  seized  with 
qualms  of  conscience  when  the  Ministry  proposed  such  meas- 
ures, and  pleaded  his  coronation  oath  as  an  insuperable  bar  to 
his  royal  assent.  But  now,  though  he  was  still  nominally  the 
sovereign,  he  was  in  reality  but  a  helpless  old  man,  imbecile, 
and  verging  upon  that  blindness  and  deafness  which  a  little  later 
cut  him  off  from  even  so  much  communication  with  the  world  as 


28 


Ancestry  and  Education. 


his  darkened  intellect  could  comprehend.  The  Prince  Regent  had 
no  coronation  oath  to  consider,  and  probably  no  conscience  j  so 
that  the  reformers  hoped  from  the  carelessness  of  a  bad  man  what 
the  scruples  of  a  weak  man  had  denied  them. 

At  a  meeting  presided  over  by  Mr.  John  Gladstone,  Mr.  Can- 
ning had  been  invited  to  stand  for  Liverpool.  The  leading  Whig 
was  young  Henry  Brougham,  who  had  not  yet  been  raised  to 
the  peerage  under  the  title  so  much  more  familiar  to  us.  A  sort 
of  coalition  was  formed,  between  the  two  political  parties,  by 
which  Canning  and  Brougham  were  to  be  returned  as  colleagues  j 


Lord  Brougham. 

but  into  this  agreement  one  of  the  candidates  refused  to  enter. 
In  one  of  the  fits  of  perversity  which  too  often  marred  his  ca- 
reer, Brougham  refused  to  be  a  party  to  this  agreement,  and 
cast  in  his  lot  with  an  ultra-Radical  j  as  the  result  of  this  action, 
he  and  his  self-chosen  colleague  were  both  defeated,  Canning  and 
another  Tory  being  returned.  What  was  the  case  when  the  elec- 
tion was  exciting  in  those  days,  we  may  infer  from  the  fact  that 
Brougham,  in  his  memoirs,  records  that  "  two  or  three  men  were 
killed,  but  the  town  was  quiet." 

This  "  quiet"  election  having  taken  place,  and  the  results  hav- 
ing been  announced,  the  victors  gave  their  enthusiasm  the  rein, 


THE  TURKISH  CRISIS-MR.  GLADSTONE  SPEAKING  AT   LIVERPOOL 


Ancestry  and  Education.  29 

and  the  successful  candidates  were  chaired  and  carried  in 
triumph  through  the  streets.  The  procession  halted  before  the 
house  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  who  had  been  one  of  those  most  ardent- 
ly desirous  of  the  election  of  Canning  and  Brougham j  and  from 
the  balcony  of  this  dwelling  Mr.  Canning  addressed  his  constitu- 
ents. From  the  window  looked  some  childish  heads,  the  round 
eyes  gazing  wonderingly  at  the  unwonted  scene.  One  of  the  lit- 
tle ones  was  less  than  three  years  old  at  the  time,  but  he  assured 
admiring  listeners,  not  many  years  ago,  that  he  remembered  the 
first  election  of  Mr.  Canning  in  Liverpool.  This  may  fairly  be 
ranked,  then,  as  the  earliest  recollection  of  the  distinguished  man, 
the  course  of  whose  life  we  are  now  to  trace  ;  and  certainly  the 
remembrance  of  Canning  himself,  at  this  and  later  times,  never 
faded  from  his  mind.  Mr.  Canning  and  the  elder  Gladstone  were 
warm  friends  after  this,  and  the  son  was  early  imbued  with  a 
deep  admiration  for  the  famous  Tory.  Perhaps  it  was  this  which 
in  a  large  measure  attached  him  to  that  party  of  which  he  was 
not  only  the  "rising  hope,"  but  one  of  the  chief  ornaments  for 
many  years. 

The  first  school  to  which  young  "William  Ewart  was  sent  was 
a  small  one  near  Liverpool,  of  which  the  venerable  Archdeacon 
Jones  was  the  head.  He  was  six  years  old  when  he  entered, 
and  remained  six  years.  Of  his  progress  at  this  school  we  do 
not  hear  very  flattering  accounts.  Said  Dean  Stanley  :  "  There 
is  a  small  school  near  Liverpool  at  which  Mr.  Gladstone  was 
brought  up  before  he  went  to  Eton.  A  few  years  afterward  an- 
other little  boy  who  went  to  this  school"  (it  is  not  hard  to  guess 
who)  "  and  whose  name  I  will  not  mention,  called  upon  the  old 
clergyman  who  was  the  head  master.  The  boy  was  now  a  young 
man,  and  he  said  to  the  old  clergyman  :  '  There  is  one  thing  in 
which  I  have  never  in  the  least  degree  improved  since  I  was  at 
school — the  casting  up  of  figures/  'Well',  replied  the  master, 
it  is  very  extraordinary  that  it  should  be  so,  because  certainly  no 
one  could  be  a  more  incapable  arithmetician  at  school  than  you 
were;  but  I  will  tell  you  a  curious  thing:  when  Mr.  Gladstone 
was  at  the  school,  he  was  just  as  incapable  at  addition  and  sub- 
traction as  you  were  ;  now  you  see  what  he  has  become.  He  is 
one  of  the  greatest  of  our  financiers." 

The  knowledge  which  a  child  acquires  from  his  school-books 
is  a  trifle  compared  to  that  which  he  insensibly  accumulates  in  a 
well  ordered  home,  where  his  elders  are  thoughtful  of  his  desire 


30  Ancestry  and  Education. 

for  knowledge.  "With  all  his  business  and  other  cares,  Mr.  John 
Gladstone  found  time  to  educate  his  son  in  the  great  questions 
of  the  day;  and  when  the  boy  was  but  twelve  years  old,  his 
father  would  discuss  the  measures  which  were  then  of  import- 
ance, and  teach  him  how  to  form  intelligent  opinions  upon  them. 
How  much  of  the  sagacity  displayed  in  later  life  has  been  there- 
suit  of  this  training,  cannot  be  told.  To  use  the  words  of  one  of 
his  most  careful  and  voluminous  biographers  :  "  Precocity  is  not 
always  the  happiest  augury  in  a  youth ;  it  too  frequently  betokens 
one  of  two  things — either  that  the  flame  of  genius  which  burns 
so  brightly  will  be  quickly  extinguished  for  the  lack  of  physical 
fuel,  or  that  the  quickness  and  intelligence  of  childhood  will  de- 
generate into  mediocrity  as  manhood  approaches.  Mr.  Gladstone 
was  an  exception  to  this  rule,  in  so  far  that  solidity  of  judgment 
appears  to  have  accompanied  perceptive  and  retentive  powers  of 
an  unusual  order.  His  genius  was  not  of  the  purely  conceptive 
and  imaginative  type,  but  he  possessed  an  intellectual  aptitude  of 
a  high  quality,  and  was  favored  in  addition  with  an  exceptional 
amount  of  vital  energy. 

In  September,  1821,  he  was  entered  at  Eton,  where  he  remained 
until  1827.  This  great  school,  which,  with  Eugby,  stands  outin  the 
mind  of  the  average  American  reader  as  the  type  of  English  pub- 
lic schools,  is  a  very  different  affair  from  institutions  of  a  similar 
aim  in  our  own  country.  About  eleven  hours  are  devoted  to 
study  each  week.  "  No  instruction  is  given  in  any  branch  of 
mathematical,  physical,  metaphysical,  or  moral  science,  nor  in 
the  evidences  of  Christianity.  The  only  subjects  which  it  is  pro- 
fessed to  teach  are  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  as  much  di- 
vinity as  can  be  gained  from  construing  the  Greek  Testament, 
and  re&ding  a  portion  of  Tomline  on  the  Thirty-nine  Articles, 
and  a  little  ancient  and  modern  geography."  Such  is  the  testi- 
mony of  no  less  an  authority  than  the  Edinburgh  Review ;  and  as 
we  read  it,  and  recall  the  testimony  of  Archdeacon  Jones  record- 
ed above,  we  are  involuntarily  moved  to  ask  where  Mr.  Glad- 
stone studied  financiering  to  such  an  excellent  advantage. 

Another  question  suggests  itself :  If  they  devote  only  eleven 
hours  to  school  work  at  Eton  (and  in  1845,  according  to  a  pupil 
of  that  date,  the  time  was  even  less  than  that),  wha-t  do  they 
do  the  rest  of  the  *ime,  aud  how  is  the  reputation  of  the  school 
kept  up?  The  Public  Schools  Commission  investigated  matters 
once,  and  Lord  Morley  was  called  as  a  witness.  Asked  whether 


Ancestry  and  Education.  31 

a  boy  would  be  /ooked  down  upon  at  Eton  for  being  industrious 
in  school  work,  his  lordship  replied,  with  what  seems  to  us  a 
laughable  naivete,  "Not  if  he  could  do  something  else  well." 

The  system  of  fagging,  with  its  manifold  evils,  has  been  well 
described  by  the  author  of  "  Tom  Brown's  Schooldays  at  Rug- 
by;" and  the  scenes  drawn  from  the  life  of  another  school  are 
not  inapplicable  to  Eton.  But  there  were  honorable  exceptions, 
of  course,  in  which  the  fags  were  not  so  badly  treated  ;  and  by 
one  of  these  the  future  statesman  profited,  being  his  elder  broth- 
er's fag.  By  the  time  that  Thomas  Gladstone  had  left  Eton,  "Wil- 
liam was  sufficiently  high  in  rank  to  have  a  fag  of  his  own  ;  and 
one  who  filled  that  position  said,  in  after  years,  that  he  wished  he 
could  be  certain  that  he  had  treated  his  own  fags  as  well  as  he 
had  been  treated  by  Gladstone. 

There  were  but  few  honors  to  bo  won  at  Eton  in  those  days, 
for  the  pupils  were  promoted  by  seniority  after  they  had  passed 
a  certain  stage,  so  that  examinations,  with  their  disappointments 
and  triumphs,  were  not.  The  one  reward  for  excellence  consist- 
ed in  being  "  sent  up  for  good"  on  account  of  Latin  or  Greek 
verses;  and  this  honor  was  won  several  times  by  young  Glad- 
stone. 

The  head  master  in  those  days  was  an-  exceedingly  cruel  little 
martinet.  He  was  often  more  pleased  with  a  sharp  excuse  than 
with  a  really  good  one ;  this  proved  to  be  of  material  advantage  to 
Gladstone  on  one  occasion.  He  had  been  made  "praspostor"  of  his 
form,  and  had  neglected  to  report  a  boy  who  had  come  late.  A 
birch  was  at  once  called  for,  and  the  head  master  addressed  the 
delinquent  official  with  words  which  may  be  translated  into  the 
speech  of  the  day  by  the  single  sentence :  "  A  public  office  is  a 
public  trust."  The  culprit  listened  to  the  harangue  which  ex- 
pressed this  in  many  a  grandiloquent  phrase,  and  then  excused 
himself  with:  "  If  you  please,  sir,  my  prsepostorship  would  have 
been  an  office  of  trust  if  I  had  sought  it  of  my  own  accord,  but  it 
was  forced  upon  me."  His  sharp  wit  saved  him,  and  the  boy  of 
fourteen  was  victor  in  the  wordy  contest. 

Though,  as  has  been  remarked,  the  school  at  Eton  did  not  do 
much  toward  educating  the  pupils  there,  they  did  a  good  deal  in 
the  way  of  educating  themselves.  One  of  the  means  which  they 
employed  for  this  purpose  was  the  Eton  Debating  Society,  of 
which  our  subject  became  a  member  in  1826;  and  which  he 
aided  much,  by  his  own  work,  and  by  getting  others  interested. 


32 


Ancestry  and  Education. 


In  the  same  form  with  Gladstone  was  Ari     ir  Henry  Hallam, 
the  eldest  son  of  the  historian,  and  the  frienu  whose  death  Ten- 


Eton  School. 

nyson  has  made  the  subject  of  In  Memoriam;  and  the  two  were 
almost  inseparable.    It  was  to  please  Hallam  that  Gladstone  re- 


Ancestry  and  Education.  33 

nounced  those  athle  "p  sports  in  which  ho  would  otherwise  have 
excelled,  and  devo  ;d  his  leisure  to  long  walks  about  the  fields 
and  Windsor  Park. 

A  visit  which  Canning  paid  to  Eton  in  1824,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  found  time  for  an  hour's  talk  with  the  son  of  his  friend 
and  supporter,  doubtless  did  much  toward  establishing  on  a 
firmer  basis  that  admiration  for  the  brilliant  statesman  which 
was  so  noticeable  in  Gladstone's  later  years.  The  talk  was  upon 
the  leading  questions  of  the  day;  and  the  Minister  of  the  Crown 
conversed  with  the  schoolboy  as  with  an  equal  in  mind  and  ex- 
perence.  His  advice  about  the  school  work  was  in  the  tone  of  an 
elder  brother,  and  was  closely  followed  by  his  young  admirer. 

Whoever  has  read  Miss  Edgeworth  knows  that  at  one  time  the 
students  of  Eton  were  accustomed  to  celebrate  a  festival  pecu- 
liar to  themselves,  called  Montem.  Costumed  in  various  colors, 
sometimes  in  imitation  of  historical  characters  or  national  dress- 
es, they  would  solicit  contributions  from  visitors  to  support  the 
"  captain"  during  at  least  a  portion  of  his  Cambridge  or  Oxford 
course.  At  the  "Montem"  of  1826,  Gladstone  was  in  Greek  cos- 
tume ;  and  was  one  of  the  "  salt-bearers,"  as  these  collectors  were 
called.  It  was  the  rule  that  the  captain  should  pay,  out  of  the 
sum  thus  collected,  for  all  the  damage  that  was  done  by  the  ram- 
pant schoolboys  during  the  festival;  and  Mr.  Gladstone  was  one 
of  the  first  pupils  of  the  school  who  tried  to  keep  such  order 
that  these  damages  would  not  melt  all  the  salt. 

There  had  been  several  papers  published  at  Eton  before  this 
time.  Prominent  among  them  were  the  Microcosm,  in  which 
Canning  and  Frere  had  given  to  the  world  the  earliest  scintil- 
lations of  their  later  brilliancy ;  and  the  Apis  Matina  and  the 
Miscellany,  which  had  been  enriched  by  the  delicately  finished 
products  of  Praed's  genius.  It  was  almost  exclusively  to  the  ef- 
forts of  young  Gladstone  that  another  magazine  was  due — The 
Eton  Miscellany.  Of  this  he  was  the  editor  and  the  principal  con- 
tributor from  the  date  of  its  inception,  in  the  summer  of  1826, 
until  he  left  the  school.  To  the  first  volume  he  contributed 
thirteen  articles,  including  a  poem  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  lines 
on  Eichard  Cceur  de  Lion.  How  far  the  general  popularity  of 
Scott  at  this  time  guided  him  to  the  selection  of  such  a  subject 
in  this  the  most  ambitious  of  his  efforts,  is  a  matter  for  debate ; 
certainly  the  "Wizard  of  the  North  was  acknowledged  as  the  fav- 
orite poet  both  of  Gladstone  and  his  friend  Hallam. 


34  Ancestry  and  Education. 

To  the  second  volume  of  the  Eton  Miscellany  he  contributed 
seventeen  articles  ;  both  these  numbers  of  course  representing 
separate  contributions,  and  not  editorials,  introductions,  etc.  His 
pen  name  was  Bartholomew  Bouverie ;  and  this  was  the  epitaph 
which  he  composed  for  himself  as  editor: 

Here  lieth  Bartle  Bouverie ; 
A  merry  soul  and  quaint  was  he  ; 
He  lived  for  gain,  he  wrote  for  pelf, 
Then  took  his  pen  and  stabbed  himself. 

Perhaps  the  most  notable  of  his  contributions  is  the  tribute  to 
Canning,  written  on  the  occasion  of  that  statesman's  premature 
death.  He  had  died  just  when  triumph  was  awaiting  him.  The 
aim  of  his  labors  for  many  years  had  been  Catholic  Emancipa- 
tion. We  cannot  pause  here  to  describe  the  disabilities  under 
which  Catholics  labored  at  this  period.  Those  earlier  and  more 
oppressive  laws,  which  forbade  a  communicant  of  the  Roman 
Church  the  privilege  of  educating  his  own  children,  and  gave  his 
estate  to  the  child  who  would  profess  himself  a  Protestant,  had 
long  ceased  to  be  enforced  ;  but  there  were  many  respects  in 
which  the  laws  of  the  land  were  scarcely  less  unjust.  Canning 
had  made  this  the  turning  point  of  the  campaign  of  1812;  but  the 
state  of  Europe  worked  against  his  plans.  It  was  the  old  story; 
Grattan  had  said,  as  early  as  1782  :  "  England's  weakness  is  Ire- 
land's strength."  Conversely,  the  truth  is  the  same.  The  Irish 
were  obliged  to  wait  for  a  threatened  invasion  of  Napoleon's 
army  before  the  frightened  English  Parliament  would  even  prom- 
ise them  this  redress  ;  and  the  promise  was  not  fulfilled  soon. 

Canning's  efforts  in  this  direction  had  made  him  unpopular  at 
court,  and  this  disfavor  was  increased  by  the  course  which  he 
took  in  regard  to  Queen  Caroline's  divorce.  During  the  regency, 
Canning  had  shown  himself  no  approver  of  the  treatment  which 
the  Princess  of  Wales  received  from  the  royal  roue  whom  she 
had  married ;  and  when  matters  came  to  a  head  upon  the  acces- 
sion of  George  IY.  he  tendered  his  resignation ;  being  openly 
opposed  to  any  proceedings  against  her.  The  King,  however, 
refused  to  accept  it,  since  it  would  materially  weaken  the  Cab- 
inet; and  the  indispensable  Minister  received  full  permission  to 
hold  aloof  from  all  proceedings  against  the  Queen.  The  same 
trouble  being  expected  to  absorb  the  attention  of  Parliament 
during  the  next  session,  he  again  tendered  his  resignation,  which 
was  accepted  this  time,  and  Mr.  Peel  appointed. 


Ancestry  and  Education.  35 

But  the  business  of  royal  family  quarrels  settled,  for  the  time 
at  least,  the  old  question  of  Catholic  Emancipation  came  up. 
Hitherto,  the  statesman  had  been  in  advance  of  his  time ;  the 
time  was  now  catching  up  with  the  statesman.  The  bill  received 
greater  majorities  than  ever  before  in  the  Commons,  though  it 
failed  to  pass  the  Lords. 

The  death  of  Lord  Castlereagh  in  1822  made  Canning  absolute- 
ly indispensable  in  the  Cabinet,  and  the  Prime  Minister  request- 
ed the  permission  of  the  King  to  make  the  appointment.  After 
considerable  argument  on  the  subject,  the  King  wrote  a  letter, 
which  he  requested  might  be  shown  to  Mr.  Canning,  and  which 
he  intended  to  be  very  gracious.  "  The  King  is  aware,"  the  let- 
ter ran,  "that  the  brightest  jewel  in  his  crown  is  the  power  of 
extending  grace  and  favor  to  a  subject  who  may  have  incurred 
his  displeasure."  Canning  was  duly  shown  this  letter,  and  wrote 
one  in  reply  which  was  not  at  all  gracious,  and  which  he  in  turn 
requested  might  be  shown  to  the  King.  He  was  with  difficulty 
restrained  from  sending  it,  and  the  breach  was  healed.  From  this 
time  we  do  not  find  that  George  IY.  failed  to  rate  the  Minister 
at  his  true  worth.  The  only  exception  to  this  was  in  1827,  when 
the  death  of  the  Premier  made  it  necessary  to  form  a  new  Min- 
istry. This  was  not  an  easy  matter.  The  King  was  bent  upon 
forming  an  anti-Catholic  Administration ;  Canning  would  not 
serve  in  such  a  Ministry.  When  his  Majesty  gave  this  idea  up, 
and  attempted  to  form  a  Cabinet  on  some  other  basis,  there  was 
still  trouble,  for  Canning  and  Peel  both  seemed  necessary.  But 
Canning  would  not  serve  under  Peel,  and  Peel  would  not  serve 
under  Canning.  After  two  months  had  passed,  however,  the 
King  decided  that  Canning,  even  with  his  favorite  measure,  was 
the  man  whom  ho  must  have  j  and  the  apostle  of  Catholic  Eman- 
cipation became  Prime  Minister  of  England. 

But  this  did  not  bring  peace  to  the  political  world.  The  Duke 
of  Wellington  so  bitterly  opposed  the  appointment  of  Canning 
that  he  resigned,  not  only  the  civil  office  that  he  held,  but  his 
post  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  British  army ;  and  every 
measure  which  the  new  Government  brought  forward  was  most 
bitterly  opposed  by  "  the  Duke"  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  by 
his  lieutenant,  Peel,  in  the  Commons.  Harassed  by  such  oppos- 
ition, and  conscious  that  the  King  entertained  no  very  great  lik 
ing  for  him,  the  lot  of  the  Prime  Minister  can  hardly  have  beei>  a 
pleasant  one.  He  kept  bravely  on,  however,  and  prepared  his  plan 


36  Ancestry  and  Education. 

of  campaign  for  the  next  session  of  Parliament.  But  a  severe 
cold  told  heavily  upon  a  system  already  broken  by  hard  work 
and  anxiety,  and  before  the  session  of  1827  opened  he  was  dead. 
Since  his  election  in  1812,  if  not  before,  Mr.  Canning  had  been 
a  frequent  visitor  at  Seaforth  House,  as  the  Gladstone  residence 
at  Liverpool  was  called ;  and  the  elder  Gladstone  was  without 
doubt  a  leader  of  the  popular  enthusiasm  for  him.  The  great 
Tory  had  been  returned  four  successive  times  from  that  borough, 
and  always  by  handsome  majorities.  The  Canning  Club  was  one 
of  the  most  prosperous  organizations  of  the  kind  to  be  found  in 


Duke  of  Wellington  (at  the  Period  of  the  Battle  of  Waterloo). 

the  large,  progressive,  commercial  city.  Was  it  any  wonder  that 
the  young  student  at  Eton,  distinguished  as  he  had  been  by  such 
marks  of  the  statesman's  favor,  should  share  the  enthusiasm  of 
his  fellow-townsmen,  led  as  they  were  by  his  own  father,  its  ob- 
ject a  man  whom  his  earliest  recollections  pictured  as  ruling 
men  by  the  magic  of  his  words?  And  when  he  compared  ancient 
and  modern  genius,  is  it  any  wonder  that  ho  should  grow  elo- 


MR.  AND   MRS.  GLADSTONE  ON   THE  CELEBRATION   OF 
THEIR  GOLDEN   WEDDING 


Ancestry  and  Education.  37 

quent  over  the  object  of  his  boyish  admiration,  and  award  the 
palm  to  the  genius  of  the  time  ?  We  have  space  for  the  perora 
tion  only: 

"It  is  for  those  who  revered  him  in  the  plenitude  of  his  mer- 
idian glory  to  mourn  over  him  in  the  darkness  of  his  premature 
extinction  j  to  mourn  over  the  hopes  that  are  buried  in  his  grave, 
and  the  evils  that  arise  from  his  withdrawing  from  the  scene  of 
life.  Surely,  if  eloquence  never  excelled  and  seldom  equalled, 
if  an  expanded  mind,  and  judgment  whose  vigor  was  only  par- 
alleled by  its  soundness,  if  brilliant  wit,  if  a  glowing  imagina- 
tion, if  a  warm  heart  and  unbending  firmness,  could  have 
strengthened  the  frail  tenure,  and  prolonged  the  momentary  en- 
durance of  human  existence,  that  man  had  been  immortal.  But 
nature  could  endure  no  longer.  Thus  had  Providence  ordained, 
that  inasmuch  as  the  intellect  is  more  brilliant,  it  shall  be  more 
short-lived  ;  as  its  sphere  is  more  expanded,  more  swiftly  is  it 
summoned  away.  Lest  we  should  give  to  man  the  honor  due 
to  God,  lest  we  should  exalt  the  object  of  our  admiration  into  a 
divinity  for  our  worship,  He  who  calls  the  mourner  and  the 
weary  to  eternal  rest  hath  been  pleased  to  remove  him  from  our 
eyes.  .  .  .  The  decrees  of  inscrutable  wisdom  are  unknown  to  us', 
but  if  ever  there  was  a  man  for  whose  sake  it  was  meet  to  in- 
dulge the  kindly  though  frail  feelings  of  our  nature,  for  whom 
the  tear  of  sorrow  was  both  prompted  by  affection  and  dictated 
by  duty,  that  man  was  George  Canning." 

Whatever  be  the  faults  of  this  passage,  it  will  compare  favor- 
ably with  the  majority  of  schoolboy  productions ;  and  perhaps  it 
will  not  surprise  the  reader  who  has  not  been  told  the  author's 
name  to  learn  that  the  boy  of  eighteen  afterward  became  one  of 
the  most  eloquent  members  of  the  British  Parliament.  We  discern 
already  the  indications  of  that  fluency  which  his  enemies  have 
sometimes  styled  verbosity  j  that  wonderful  flow  of  words, 
which  piles  up  invective  after  invective,  argument  upon  argu- 
ment, until  the  whole  becomes  unanswerable. 

We  have  already  mentioned  Hallam  as  one  of  Gladstone's  con- 
temporaries at  Eton.  Next  to  him,  in  the  estimation  of  the  stu- 
dent in  whom  we  are  specially  interested,  came  George  A.  Sel- 
wyn,  afterward  a  bishop;  and  he  who,  as  Sir  Francis  Hastings 
Doyle,  became  Professor  of  Poetry  at  the  University  of  Oxford. 

Though  the  esteem  of  the  head  master  of  this  time  does  not 
seem  to  be  worth  wishing  for,  it  was  possessed  in  large  measure 


38  Ancestry  and  Education. 

by  the  pupil  who  could  outwit  him  in  argument,  and  who  never 
betrayed  fear  of  his  tyranny.  It  was  won  mainly  .-y  j  oung 
Gladstone's  persistence  in  study,  and  retained  by  that  and  other 
qualities.  Alluding  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Gladstone  the  elder  had 
been  undecided  whether  to  send  his  second  son  to  Eton  or  the 
Charterhouse,  Dr.  Keats  once  said  : 

"  That  would  have  been  a  pity  for  both  of  us,  Gladstone — for 
you  and  for  me." 

During  his  year  in  the  Sixth  Form,  or  highest  class  of  the 
school,  Mr.  Gladstone  became  President  of  the  Debating  Society 
and  the  acknowledged  head  of  the  school  in  literary  attain 
ments  and  oratory.  His  home  training  had  indeed  been  such  as 
to  fit  him  for  this  standing  in  a  peculiar  degree.  All  the  chil- 
dren of  the  family  were  accustomed  to  argue  with  each  other 
every  point  that  admitted  of  argument ;  it  was  this  training  that 
has  made  him  such  a  master  of  the  art  of  persuasion.  The  argu- 
ments were  all  perfectly  good-humored  ;  but  they  were  not  ad- 
vanced rashl}T,  or  abandoned  without  conviction.  Nor  were  they 
averse  to  acknowledging  themselves  beaten  when  such  was  felt 
to  be  the  case.  It  was  early  recognized  that  the  second  son  pos- 
sessed the  greatest  powers  of  persuasion.  On  one  occasion,  an  old 
Scotch  servant  was  directed  to  hang  a  certain  picture,  but  the 
side  of  the  room  on  which  it  should  be  placed  was  not  specified. 
Master  "Willie,  as  he  was  called  at  home,  and  his  sister,  Miss 
Mary,  proceeded  to  discuss  the  question,  each  choosing  a  dif- 
erent  place  as  the  one  to  be  preferred.  The  feminine  tongue 
was  the  longer,  or  else  her  enemy  was  too  gallant  to  insist  upon 
fighting  it. to  the  end,  even  with  his  sister;  for  he  was  silent  af- 
ter a  while,  though  evidently  not  convinced.  The  servant  hung 
the  picture  as  Miss  Mary  wished,  then  drove  a  nail  on  the  oppos- 
ite wall. 

"What  are  you  doing  that  for,  Sandy?"  demanded  the  young 
lady. 

"  Aweel,  Miss,  that'll  do  to  hang  the  picture  on  when  ye'll 
have  coom  roond  to  Maister  Willie's  opeenion." 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  lack  of  mathematical  training 
at  Eton.  No  arithmetic  beyond  the  subject  of  division  was  taught 
by  the  master,  who  was  allowed  to  give  his  lessons  out  of  school 
hours,  as  extras,  to  those  who  particularly  wished  to  excel ;  and 
for  many  years  after  Mr.  Gladstone  left  the  school  this  state  of 
things  continued.  While  the  requirements  at  Cambridge  were 


Ancestry  and  Education,  39 

such  that  this  wonld  have  been  very  insufficient  preparation,  in- 
volving the  necessity  of  studying  under  a  private  tutor,  it  was 
different  at  Oxford.  It  seems  almost  incredible  that  during  the 
present  century  it  was  quite  possible  for  a  man  to  take  his  de- 
gree at  this  ancient  seat  of  learning,  and  yet  have  no  more  knowl- 
edge of  mathematics  than  the  boy  in  our  own  primary  schools. 
Yet  so  it  was;  and  if  young  Gladstone  had  been  content  simply 
to  take  the  classical  course  at  Oxford  he  might  have  gone  direct 
to  the  university.  His  homo  training,  however,  had  given  him 
habits  of  thoroughness  with  which  this  was  inconsistent  j  and  for 
nearly  two  years  he  read  with  a  private  tutor,  Dr.  Turner,  after- 
ward the  Bishop  of  Calcutta.  When  he  did  enter  Oxford  in  1829, 
he  knew  almost  as  much  mathematics  as  the  average  Cambridge 
sophomore. 

His  career  at  school  had  given  him  the  reputation  of  uncom- 
mon ability,  and  because  he  was  regarded  as  a  young  man  of  ex- 
ceptional promise  he  was  nominated  to  a  studentship  at  Christ 
Church.  This  brought  him  an  income  of  about  £K  0  per  annum. 
The  scholarships  are  now  given  to  those  who  exc  >l  in  the  com- 
petitive examinations,  and  it  is  not  usual  for  th«>se  who  are  in 
affluent  circumstances  to  compete  for  them ;  but  fifty  or  sixty 
years  ago,  they  were  at  the  disposal  of  the  Dean,  and  were  not 
often  bestowed  upon  those  who  really  had  need  of  them. 

The  student  impressed  himself  strongly  upon  the  minds  of  his 
comrades.  It  was  his  intense  conviction  of  being  in  the  right 
which  made  him  so  persevering,  not  to  say  stubborn,  in  an  argu- 
ment ;  and  thus  assured  him  the  victory  over  those  who  did 
not  ponder  very  deeply  on  their  opinions,  and  hence  were  not 
prepared  to  defend  them  vigorously  when  attacked.  Yet  one  of 
his  tutors  has  borne  evidence  to  his  readiness  to  acknowledge 
that  he  had  been  in  the  wrong,  when  he  really  thought  that  it 
was  so.  Thus  early  were  the  traits  developed,  which  made  it 
possible  for  him  to  be  first  a  Tory,  then  the  most  progressive  of 
Liberals ;  first  to  permit  the  use  of  coercion  by  a  member  of  his 
Ministry,  as  a  means  of  ruling  the  Irish;  then  to  advocate  the 
extension  of  home  rule  to  that  country. 

It  was  a  thorough  knowledge  of  his  nature,  as  displayed  at 
college,  which  enabled  one  of  his  old  college  friends  to  say,  forty 
years  afterward:  "You  must  know  Gladstone  to  understand  how 
much  it  costs  him  to  give  up  any  clause  in  a  bill  which  he  has 
framed.  He  hates  compromise  as  a  concession  of  good  to  evil, 


40  Ancestry  and  Education. 

He  cannot  acknowledge  half  truths  or  admit  the  value  of  half 
good.  What  grieves  him  is  not  the  humiliation  of  being  beaten 
by  his  systematic  foes,  but  the  misery  of  having  failed  to  con- 
vince thoso  who  profess  to  be  his  friends  and  to  let  themselves 
be  guided  by  him;  and  again,  when  he  surrenders  a  particle  of 
what  ho  considers  right,  he  is  at  war  with  his  restive  conscience, 
asking  himself  whether  he  was  morally  justified  in  yielding  to 
serve  party  ends." 


Christ  Church  College,  Oxford. 

It  was  small  wonder  that  a  youth  with  such  abilities  and  such 
characteristics  should  soon  become  a  notable  figure  in  the  Ox- 
ford Union,  the  foremost  literary  and  debating  society  of  the 


Ancestry  and  Education.  4] 

university.  This  association  had  been  founded  in  1823,  chiefly  by 
Balliol  men,  but  by  1829  Christ  Church  and  Oriel  Colleges  furnish- 
ed a  majority  of  the  members.  It  possessed  a  respectable  library 
and  a  well-furnished  reading  room.  Something  of  the  earnest- 
ness of  the  members  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that,  until 
1826,  proposals  to  buy  the  Waverly  Novels  and  other  works  of 
fiction  were  resolutely  thrown  out.  The  debates  were  principally 
on  subjects  connected  with  the  conduct  of  national  affairs ;  and 
the  young  students  gravely  advised  and  directed  the  Ministers 
of  the  Crown,  as  Columbus  commanded  the  sun  to  hide  his  face 
from  the  recusant  red  men;  that  there  was  an  eclipse,  history  re- 
cords; and  sometimes  the  British  Empire  was  ruled  in  accord- 
ance with  the  ideas  of  the  Oxford  Union;  but  the  command  was 
probably  the  reason  in  one  case  as  much  as  in  the  other. 

It  is  curious  to  note  the  stand  which  the  embryo  statesman  took 
upon  the  questions  of  the  day.  Like  a  true  Tory,  he  was  vio- 
lently opposed  to  the  question  of  Parliamentary  Reform,  which 
was  then  the  subject  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  all  concerned 
with  public  affairs ;  and  spoke  in  the  Union  with  considerable 
ability  upon  this  side  of  the  question.  This  speech  is  of  consid- 
erable importance,  considered  as  a  step  in  his  career;  for  it  pro- 
duced such  an  impression  upon  the  young  Earl  of  Lincoln,  the 
eldest  son  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  that  he  wrote  home  to  his 
father  :  "  A  man  has  uprisen  in  Israel."  The  young  nobleman's 
admiration  for  his  fellow-student  had  begun  some  time  before 
this,  and  continued  strong  as  ever  for  many  years  afterward;  it 
was  the  means  of  exciting  the  interest  of  his  father,  one  of  the 
most  powerful  Tories  of  the  day;  and  was  the  reason  why  Mr. 
Gladstone  was  invited  to  stand  for  the  duke's  pocket-borough  of 
Newark. 

For  the  present,  however,  we  have  but  to  deal  with  his  uni- 
versity life.  The  debate  upon  the  relative  excellences  of  Byron 
and  Shelley,  an  inter-university  contest  to  which  Cambridge 
challenged  Oxford,  took  place  while  Gladstone  was  in  his  fresh- 
man year,  and  therefore  not  eligible  to  more  than  a  probation- 
ary membership.  Though  debarred  the  privilege  of  speaking  in 
this  notable  debate,  he  was  accorded  the  honor  of  a  place  upon 
the  reception  committee ;  for  his  reputation  for  hospitality  was 
as  great  as  for  scholarship. 

The  offices  of  secretary  and  president  of  the  Union  were  con- 
ferred upon  him  at  a  later  period ;  but  all  his  oratorical  triumphs 


42  Ancestry  and  Education. 

were  not  in  its  rooms.  He  became  the  founder  of  another  de- 
bating society,  which  seems  to  have  included  only  a  few  special 
friends  as  its  members.  This  club  was  called  the  "Weg,"  from  the 
initials  of  its  founder,  and  its  assemblies  were  well  known  for 
their  brilliancy. 

The  leader  of  the  Weg  was  regarded  as  the  most  religious 
man  of  his  set.  He  was  -what  was  called  an  "enquirer  after 
truth"  in  those  days  j  and  as  such,  he  was  a  fairly  regular  at- 
tendant upon  church,  with  frequent  visits  to  the  chapels  of  the 
Dissenters.  He  was  untiring  in  his  efforts  to  induce  his  fellow- 
students  to  go  with  him  to  hear  the  University  Sermons,  preach- 
ed Sunday  afternoons;  and  one  unlucky  occasion,  when  he  yield- 
ed to  the  heat  and  prosiness  of  the  preacher,  furnished  Doyle 
with  an  unfailing  retort  for  future  invitations  of  the  kind. 
"  Thank  you,"  the  future  poet  would  say  to  the  future  states- 
man, "  I  can  sleep  as  well  in  my  own  chair." 

He  went  up  for  his  degree  at  the  Michaelmas  term  of  1831. 
Moderations  had  not  then  been  instituted,  and  the  students  were 
utterly  ignorant  as  to  whether  their  attainments  were  anything 
near  the  mark,  until  the  final  examinations  were  held.  An  under- 
graduate's scholarship  was  never  tested  until  the  time  came  at 
which  he  tried  for  his  degree.  It  was  therefore  with  some  ner- 
vousness about  the  result  that  Mr.  Gladstone  entered  upon  this 
test;  and  when  he  went  home  for  the  Christmas  holidays,  with- 
out having  learned  anything  definite  about  the  examination,  he 
was  decidedly  anxious.  Though  it  be  not  in  mortals  to  command 
success,  he  had  deserved  it ;  and  in  this  case  desert  was  reward- 
ed. He  was  among  the  forty-seven  who  took  a  "first-class"  in 
classics,  and  among  the  five  who  achieved  the  same  distinction 
in  mathematics.  He  had  thus  the  distinction  of  a  "  double  first 
class,"  an  honor  which  had  been  first  won  by  Sir  Robert  Peel. 
"The  world  lies  at  the  feet  of  first-class  men."  Everything  now 
combined  to  insure  his  success  in  political  life — wealth,  position, 
influential  friends,  all  that  could  be  wished  for  were  given  to  him 
who  so  richly  deserved  them  by  his  abilities. 

What  was  the  effect  of  his  university  training  upon  the  mind 
and  the  after  life  of  the  student?  For  unless  this  be  shown  the 
record  becomes  a  mere  gratification  of  idle  curiosity.  Like  the 
Conservatives  of  the  day,  he  had  dreaded  innovation,  and  had 
seen  clearly  the  evils  which  follow  in  her  train.  That  these  evils 
were  mere  visionary  ones,  does  not  matter;  he  had  become  im- 


Ancestry  and  Education.  43 

bued  with  the  ideas,  so  prevalent  there,  and  indeed  in  strict  ac- 
cordance with  those  of  his  father  and  his  father's  famous  friend, 
which  considered  any  confidence  in  the  people  as  only  too  like- 
ly to  lead  to  a  repetition,  in  London,  of  the  horrors  perpetrated 
in  Paris  in  the  days  of  Louis  XYI.  His  admiration  of  Canning, 
and  his  education  at  Oxford,  were  two  mighty  barriers  between 
him  and  that  party  of  which  he  has  since  become  the  acknowl- 
edged and  beloved  chief.  But  let  us  hear  what  he  has  himself 
said  upon  the  subject,  in  a  speech  delivered  at  the  opening  of  ths 
Palmerston  Club  in  Oxford,  in  1878  : 

"  I  trace  in  the  education  of  Oxford  of  my  own  time  one  grea'< 
defect.  Perhaps  it  was  my  own  fault;  but  1  must  admit  that  1 
did  not  learn,  while  at  Oxford,  that  which  I  have  learned  since, 
viz.:  to  set  a  due  value  on  the  imperishable  and  inestimable  prin 
ciples  of  human  liberty.  The  temper  which,  I  think,  too  much 
prevailed  in  academic  circles  was,  that  liberty  was  regarded 
with  jealousy,  and  fear  could  not  be  wholly  dispensed  with ....  1 
think  that  the  principle  of  the  Conservative  party  is  jealousy  of 
liberty  and  of  the  people,  only  qualified  by  fear;  but  I  think 
that  the  policy  of  the  Liberal  party  is  trust  in  the  people,  only 
qualified  by  prudence.  I  can  only  assure  you,  gentlemen,  that 
now  I  am  in  front  of  extended  popular  privileges,  I  have  no  fear 
of  those  enlargements  of  the  Constitution  which  seem  to  be  ap- 
proaching. On  the  contrary,  I  hail  them  with  desire.  I  am  not 
in  the  least  degree  conscious  that  I  have  less  reverence  for  anti- 
quit}T,  for  the  beautiful,  good,  and  glorious  charges  which  our 
ancestors  have  handed  down  to  us  as  a  patrimony  to  our  race, 
than  I  had  in  other  days  when  I  held  other  political  opinions.  I 
have  learned  to  set  the  true  value  upon  human  liberty,  and  in 
whatever  I  have  changed,  there,  and  there  only,  has  been  the  ex- 
planation of  the  change." 

Such  is  the  explanation  which,  standing  upon  the  threshold  of 
threescore  and  ten,  he  made  upon  the  actions  and  opinions  of 
the  student  of  twenty-two. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  PUBLIC  LIFE. 

Interest  in  Political  Questions — Eeaction  After  the  War — Destitution  of  the 
Colliers — Seats  in  Parliament  Bought  and  Sold — How  Elections  were 
Conducted — Duke  of  Wellington  as  Prime  Minister — Plan  of  Eeform — 
Fury  of  the  Tory  Peers — Address  to  the  Electors  at  Newark — Mr.  Glad- 
stone Elected  to  Parliament — The  Slavery  Question — Eloquent  Speeches — 
Becomes  Identified  with  Great  Public  Questions — Rising  Star  in  the  Polit- 
ical Firmament. 

CURING-  the  Spring  of  1831  Mr.  Gladstone  took  an  active 
interest  in  political  questions.  Among  other  proofs  of 
this,  we  find  an  account  of  a  Eeform  meeting  published 
in  a  paper  of  the  period,  written  by  the  young  graduate;  in 
which  he  showed  that  the  vast  crowd  there  present  was  not  to 
be  taken  as  an  indication  of  the  popularity  of  the  movement. 
He  was  not  backward  in  assailing  the  characters  of  those  who 
were  active  at  this  meeting,  as  he  deemed  to  be  evidenced  by 
their  previous  standing  and  their  performance  on  the  occasion. 

During  the  summer  of  that  year,  the  young  gentleman  went 
to  the  continent,  where  he  expected  to  enjoy  an  extended  tour. 
He  was  recalled  to  England  during  that  very  summer,  however. 
One  of  the  most  important  measures  of  the  century  had  just 
passed  the  two  Houses,  and  received  the  unwilling  assent  of  the 
King.  But  the  Eeform  Bill  of  1832  is  too  important  a  measure 
in  itself,  and  as  a  forerunner  of  what  came  after  it,  to  be  light- 
ly passed  over  in  the  life  of  an  English  statesman  who,  like 
Gladstone,  sat  in  the  first  Eeform  Parliament,  and  was  active  in 
those  later  efforts  for  Eeform  which  grew  out  of  the  liberty  as- 
sured by  the  first  law. 

As  long  as  the  country  was  at  war,  the  Conservatives  natural- 
ly held  the  reins  of  government;  it  was  not  safe  to  make  con- 
cessions to  the  people  in  the  face  of  the  outrages  perpetrated  by 
the  French ;  the  monarchy  would  be  overturned,  social  order 
destroyed,  and  general  pandemonium  ensue,  should  such  encour- 

44 


HER   MAJESTY  QUEEN   VICTORIA 


The  Beginning  of  Public  Life.  45 

agement  be  given.  True,  the  Bill  for  Catholic  Emancipation 
hud  been  carried,  but  that  was  an  act  of  justice,  long-delayed,  in- 
deed, but  thoroughly  different  from  such  a  purely  political 
measure  as  increasing  the  number  of  electors  for  the  members  of 
Parliament.  There  was  no  real  representation  of  the  people  of 
England  at  that  time  j  and  it  must  be  remembered  that  they  had 
never  had  any  rights,  aside  from  the  landed  proprietors.  To 
go  back  to  the  very  corner-stone  of  English  liberty,  Magna 
Charta  itself,  that  instrument  protected  the  barons  against  the 
tyranny  of  the  king;  but  there  was  no  human  power  which 
could  protect  the  wage-earners  against  the  tyranny  of  the  bar- 
ons. Hampden  upheld  the  rights  of  the  Commons  against 
Charles  I.,  but  those  Commons  were,  like  himself,  men  of  large 
property  and  high  standing.  In  1886,  there  were  thirteen  work- 
ingmen  in  Parliament;  not  agitators,  who  lived  off  the  contribu- 
tions of  their  misguided  disciples,  and  never  did  a  day's  honest 
work  in  their  lives,  but  the  regulation  "  horny-handed  sons  of 
toil,"  who  by  their  skill  had  first  gained  the  respect  of  their 
fellows,  and  retained  it  by  their  sterling  good  sense;  supported 
by  the  trades  unions,  it  is  true  (for  they  must  live),  they  gave  to 
the  good  of  the  community  the  time  which  they  had  formerly 
devoted  to  the  manual  labor  which  provided  food  and  shelter 
for  their  families ;  but  were  in  no  sense  adventurers.  Such  were 
the  facts  in  1886  ;  but  in  1826  such  a  prophecy  would  have  been 
looked  upon  as  the  wildest  dream  of  an  unscrupulous  revolu* 
tionist  ;  and  it  was  not  rendered  possible  for  forty  years  later. 

But  when  the  war  was  over,  the  reaction  began  to  set  in.  It 
began  with  the  abolition  of  most  of  the  sinecures  which  had  been 
held  by  the  great  nobles  at  enormous  salaries.  Having  cut  off  from 
the  list  those  offices  where  there  was  nothing  to  do,  the  reform- 
ers next  considered  those  where  the  work  was  done  chiefly  by 
deputies  j  and  the  practice  of  allowing  officers  so  to  discharge 
their  duties  was  to  a  considerable  extent  abolished.  Eeligious 
tests  were  done  away  with  j  Catholics  might  sit  in  Parliament, 
Dissenters  might  hold  any  kind  of  civil  or  political  office,  Jews 
were  eligible  as  civic  officers  of  London.  The  criminal  code, 
too,  had  been  changed,  and  the  death  penalty  limited  to  those 
great  crimes  which  are  now  punished  by  the  extreme  sentence 
of  the  law.  All  these  changes,  while  they  seem  to  us  to  em- 
brace only  those  principles  which  must  rule  the  intercourse  be- 
tween man  and  man,  were  then  real  reforms. 


46  The  Beginning  of  Public  Lift. 

The  people  had  tried  to  make  themselves  heard,  but  had  not 
succeeded.  "  In  1817  some  starving  colliers  of  the  North  had 
thought  of  making  a  pilgrimage  to  the  house  of  the  Prince  Re- 
gent in  London,  in  the  hope  of  being  allowed  to  tell  their  tale 
of  misery  to  him,  and  induce  him  to  do  something  on  their  be- 
half. Following  the  example  of  these  poor  fellows,  a  large  body 
of  Manchester  workingmen  resolved  that  they  would  walk  to 
London,  make  known  their  grievances  to  the  authorities  there, 
and  ask  for  Parliamentary  Reform  as  one  means  of  improving 
their  condition."  Destitute  as  they  were,  they  had  no  money  to 
spend  upon  this  melancholy  pilgrimage  for  anything  but  the 
food  which  was  an  absolute  necessity ;  and  each  carried  with 
him  his  blanket,  that  he  might  not  be  without  a  bed  at  night. 
When  this  became  known  among  those  who  had  never  felt  the 
hardships  of  poverty,  the  foot-sore  and  shelterless  travelers  were 
styled  the  "Blanketeers."  But  it  was  useless  to  make  such  an  ap- 
peal to  the  Prince  Regent  or  his  Ministry.  The  men  in  author- 
ity saw  nothing  pitiful  in  this  array  of  hard-working  men,  ask- 
ing to  be  allowed  the  bare  right  of  living  by  their  own  labor, 
for  such  a  privilege  was  what  they  hoped  Reform  would  bring 
them.  They  were  rioters,  revolutionary,  seditious;  and  the 
soldiery  posted  along  the  roads  which  they  traveled  arrested 
some,  who  were  brought  to  trial  and  committed  to  prison  ;  while 
the  rest  were  turned  back  homeward,  to  endure  as  well  as  they 
could  the  old  burdens. 

The  Peterloo  Massacre  took  place  about  two  years  after  the 
journey  of  the  Blanketeers;  and  these  are  but  specimens  of  the 
tyranny  which  was  practised  upon  Englishmen  of  that  day,  un- 
der the  disguise  of  a  representative  government.  It  seems  in- 
credible that  such  abuses  should  have  arisen  in  a  system  origin- 
ally intended  as  a  safeguard  of  the  liberties  of  the  subject;  but 
it  must  be  remembered  that  the  sovereign  alone  had  the  power  to 
summon  a  borough  or  county  to  return  a  representative  to  Par- 
liament; such  a  call  once  given,  the  member  was  elected  time  af- 
ter time;  in  many  cases,  the  original  population  had  dwindled 
to  a  mere  handful,  and  in  some  it  was  altogether  gone;  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  great  manufacturing  centers,  which  had 
grown  up  of  late  years,  were  wholly  unrepresented.  Two-thirds 
of  the  House  of  Commons  consisted  of  members  from  "  rotten 
boroughs,"  as  they  were  called  ;  boroughs  in  which  the  voters,  if 
there  were  any,  were  so  completely  under  the  domination  of  the 


The  Beginning  of  Public  Life. 


47 


lord  of  tho  soil  that  the  election  was  a  mere  farce,  in  which  they 
had  no  power  to  act  but  as  the  owner  of  tho  scat  dictated.  Old 
Surum,  a  town  from  which  Salisbury  had  drawn  all  tho  popula- 
tion, still  sent  one  member  to  Parliament,  as  it  had  done  in  the  days 
when  it  was  a  flourishing  town  ;  G-atton,  which  had  but  seven 
electors,  had  two  representatives  in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 
Ludgcrshall,  in  Wiltshire,  was,  like  Old  Sarum,  without  inhabi- 
tants, but  with  a  Parliamentary  franchise.  The  owner  of  this  seat 
elected  himself  to  Parliament,  but  was  so  far  sensible  of  the  in- 


The  Uninhabited  Borough  of  Old  Sarum, 

justice  of  his  own  rights  that  he  told  his  colleagues,  when  the 
question  of  Eeform  came  before  the  House :  "  Gentlemen,  I 
am  the  patron  of  Ludgershall,  I  am  the  constituency  of  Ludger- 
shall,  and  I  am  the  member  for  Ludgershall  j  but  in  all  three  ca- 
pacities I  mean  to  vote  for  the  disfranchisement  of  Ludgershall/' 
Nor  was  this  all.  Not  only  did  tho  owners  of  the  seats  return 
the  members  in  whom  they  took  a  personal  interest,  or  whom 
they  hoped  to  bind  to  themselves  politically,  but  when  one  of 
these  fortunate  individuals  had  no  special  candidate  in  view,  he 
had  no  hesitation  in  disposing  of  his  property  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage. Seats  were  not  only  often  bought  and  sold — all  the  re- 
form in  the  world  does  not  seem  to  be  able  to  prevent  that,  in 
England  or  elsewhere — but  they  were  publicly  advertised  for 


48  The  Beginning  of  Public  Life. 

sale.  Elections  lasted  for  fifteen  days,  in  some  cases — it  had  been 
necessary  to  limit  their  duration  to  that  length  of  time  by  a  law 
passed  in  1784 — and  the  whole  period  was  given  up  to  the  most 
riotous  debauchery  in  the  counties  and  boroughs  where  there 
were  still  a  respectable  number  of  electors.  Such  was  the  state 
of  aifairs  in  England;  and  in  Scotland  and  Ireland,  incredible  as 
it  may  seem,  it  was  even  worse. 

The  project  of  Parliamentary  Reform  was  one  which  had  for 
many  years  been  in  the  minds  of  statesmen.  The  elder  Pitt  had 
brought  it  forward,  but  the  successful  resistance  of  the  American 
colonies  to  the  power  of  a  non-representative  Parliament  made 
such  schemes  unpopular  for  a  number  of  years.  The  public  ten- 
dency to  Conservatism  caused  by  the  American  Revolution  had 
but  begun  to  set  the  other  way,  when  the  French  Revolution 
again  turned  it,  and  men  once  more  determined  that  it  would  not 
do  to  make  bad  worse.  The  Duke  of  Wellington,  in  particular, 
was  a  determined  opponent  of  the  question,  and  affirmed  that  he 
believed  such  a  concession  to  the  masses  would  bring  about  a 
civil  war.  With  a  solemnity  which  gave  the  words  of  the  great 
soldier,  the  military  idol  of  the  people,  a  depth  of  meaning 
which  no  other  man's  could  have  had,  he  told  his  listeners  that 
to  save  his  country  from  one  month  of  civil  war,  he  would  will- 
ingly lay  down  his  life.  Such  was  the  earnest  belief  of  many 
wise  statesmen.  But  there  were  others  more  in  sympathy  with 
the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  these  had  never  ceased  to  plead  the 
cause  in  which  they  so  earnestly  believed.  One  of  these  was  that 
Earl  Grey  to  whose  lofty  eloquence  Macaulay  has  borne  testi- 
mony; another  was  his  son-in-law,  Lord  Durham,  by  whose 
masterful  mind  the  somewhat  slower  nature  of  the  elder  noble 
was  often  directed  ;  then  there  was  Henry  Brougham,  who  had 
not  yet  been  created  a  peer,  but  whose  restless,  untiring  energy 
made  him  incapable  of  Conservatism.  But  foremost  of  all,  in 
the  earnestness  of  his  efforts,  the  untiring  patience  with  which 
he  worked  for  the  advancement  of  the  measure,  and  the  powers 
which  he  brought  to  the  contest,  was  Lord  John  Russell.  No 
man,  without  genius,  has  ever  so  impressed  himself  upon  the 
history  of  his  age.  Clear-sighted,  strong-willed,  with  undevia- 
ting  principles,  it  was  the  sole  advantage  which  the  system  of 
electing  the  members  of  Parliament  which  prevailed  at  that  time 
possessed,  that  it  provided  for  the  training  and  advancement, 
in  their  early  youth,  of  such  men  as  he  was. 


The  Beginning  of  Public  Life. 


49 


At  last  an  event  which  did  more  for  the  Reform  than  any  other 
could  have  done,  occurred.  This  was  the  death  of  George  IV., 
which  took  place  June  26,  1830.  It  had  long  been  tacitly  under- 
stood that  as  long  as  the  "  First  Gentleman  in  Europe"  was 
alive,  it  was  useless  to  think  of  bettering  the  condition  of  his  un- 
fortunate subjects.  But  William  IV.  had  been  popular  in  his 
youth,  and  longed  to  have  that  state  of  affairs  restored.  Perhaps 
it  would  be  more  just  to  say  that  he  seems  to  have  wished,  with 
all  the  earnestness  of  which  he  was  capable,  to  be  a  good  king. 
At  any  rate,  his  people  thought  that  his  accession  was  a  step  for- 
ward in  the  cause  of  Reform. 

The  Duke  of  Wellington  was  Prime  Minister  at  the  time  of 
this  change.  His  Ministry  had  indeed  passed  the  Catholic  Eman- 
cipation Bill,  but  it  was  gen- 
erally acknowledged  that 
they  had  not  done  this  be- 
cause they  had  recognized  the 
justice  of  the  measure,  but  be- 
cause they  had  been  convinced 
that  it  would  not  be  safe  to  de- 
lay it  any  longer.  The  reform 
question  had  reached  that 
stage  at  this  time.  Added  to 
this,  matters  in  Franco  were 
having  their  eifect  upon  Eng- 
lish politics,  as  they  have  al- 
ways had,  sooner  or  later. 
The  brother  of  Louis  XVI. 
had  been  compelled  to  abdi- 
cate, and  the  Orleans  branch 
of  the  royal  family  had  been 
called  to  the  throne.  This 
change  had  resulted  from  the 
refusal  of  the  French  Ministry  to  consider  questions  which  were 
forced  upon  their  attention  by  the  people  j  the  English  Ministry 
took  the  lesson  to  heart. 

But  Wellington  denied  that  the  distress  which  existed  in  the 
country  was  general ;  and  even  if  it  were,  he  refused  to  be  con- 
vinced that  Reform  was  a  cure  for  it,  or  indeed  anything  but 
an  evil.  The  Tory  Ministry  grew  more  and  more  unpopular,  and 
at  last  was  compelled  to  resign.  Earl  Grey  was  his  successor, 


William  IV. 


50  The  Beginning  of  Public  Life. 

and  most  of  the  men  who  had  long  been  prominent  in  the  cause 
of  Reform  were  in  his  cabinet.  Brougham  was  made  Lord  Chan- 
cellor; Melbourne,  Stanley  (afterwards  Lord  Derby),  Plunkett, 
and  Durham,  were  also  chosen  for  this  honor.  Lord  John  Rus- 
sell was  in  office,  but  not  in  the  Cabinet.  One  member  of  the 
Government,  Lord  Althorp,  possessed  the  confidence  of  the 
House  in  a  remarkable  degree.  On  one  occasion  he  was  replying 
to  an  opponent  whose  arguments  had  been  very  plausible.  "  I 
do  not  now  recollect,"  he  said,  "  the  reasons  which  prove  his  ob- 
jections to  be  groundless ;  but  I  know  that  those  reasons  were 
perfectly  satifactory  to  my  own  mind."  And  the  House,  with  a 
devotion  seldom,  if  ever,  paralleled,  took  Lord  Althorp's  word 
for  it,  and  gave  a  large  majority  against  his  opponent. 

Lord  John  Russell  was  commissioned  to  draw  up  a  plan  to  be 
submitted  to  the  House  ;  for  it  was  understood  thatthis  Ministry 
was  appointed  for  the  special  purpose  of  carrying  out  some  Re- 
form measure.  This  was  duly  submitted  to  the  Premier,  and  a 
bill  drawn  up  in  accordance  with  his  modifications  of  the 
draught. 

While  the  author  of  the  plan  of  Reform  did  not,  as  he  tells  us 
in  his  own  work  on  the  "  The  English  Government  and  Consti- 
tution," think  it  well  to  make  any  changes  which  could  possibly 
be  avoided,  it  was  necessary  to  make  this  measure  complete  in 
itself;  to  leave  no  room  for  their  enemies  to  say  that  they  were 
only  playing  at  Reform.  But  the  secret  was  carefully  kept,  and 
until  the  actual  introduction  of  the  Bill  into  Parliament,  its 
enemies  did  not  know  the  nature  of  the  measure  which  they 
would  have  to  fight.  They  had  supposed  that  Old  Sarum  and 
Gatton  would  be  struck  from  the  list;  they  felt  sure  that  Man- 
chester and  Birmingham  would  be  added  to  it ;  but  as  Lord  John, 
who  introduced  the  Bill,  proceeded  with  his  speech,  and  the 
names  of  sixty  boroughs  were  given,  as  the  ones  which  it  was  pro- 
posed to  leave  without  representation,  and  forty-seven  which 
were  to  have  but  one  member  each,  the  Tories  began  to  feel 
that  all  breaches  within  their  party  must  be  forgotten,  in 
fighting  this  common  foe,  Reform.  Seven  nights  of  debate  fol- 
lowed in  the  House  of  Commons  and  at  the  close  of  the 
seventh,  one  member  remarked  that  no  speaker  had  expressed 
himself  as  opposed  to  all  Reform  "  a  remarkable  change,"  com- 
ments Cooke,  in  his  "History  of  Party."  The  bill  was  defeated  at 
last,  the  opposition  having  a  majority  of  eight ;  and  the  kingdis- 


The  Beginning  of  Public  Life.  51 

solved  Parliament.  It  was  well  that  he  did  so  ;  for  the  Ministry 
must  have  resigned,  after  a  division  and  defeat  on  the  main  ob- 
ject which  they  advocated;  and  that  would  in  all  probability  have 
involved  a  popular  rising  like  that  of  the  first  [Revolution  in 
France. 

If  the  Tories  did  not  hesitate  to  use  all  the  influence  which 
they  possessed,  the  Whigs  were  in  the  van  with  them.  True,  the 
Whigs,  or  Liberals,  as  they  began  to  be  more  generally  called, 
owned  but  few  boroughs,  compared  with  their  opponents  ;  but 
bribery  was  a  powerful  force  with  many  of  the  electors,  and  they 
did  not  hesitate  to  fight  the  devil  with  fire.  Then,  too,  the  electors, 
in  many  cases,  cast  oif  their  former  allegiance,  and  defied  the 
power  to  which  they  had  so  long  been  subject.  The  result  was 
that  when  the  new  Parliament  met,  and  the  Bill  was  once  more 
submitted,  the  Ministry  had  a  majority  of  109;  not  fifty  mem- 
bers of  the  minority,  says  the  eminent  authority  above  quoted, 
that  were  not  directly  interested  in  the  result,  as  members  for 
disfranchised  boroughs. 

But  the  measure  was  not  yet  a  law;  it  must  pass  the  House 
of  Lords.  "What  will  the  Lords  do?"  was  the  question  in  ev- 
ery mouth,  echoed  in  one  of  the  most  powerful  pamphlets 
which  proceeded  from  the  pen  of  Brougham;  while  Macaulay 
drew  solemn  warnings  from  the  example  of  the  French  nobil- 
ity, who  had  been  swept  away,  as  he  declared,  "  because  they 
had  no  sympathy  with  the  people."  Earl  Grey  was  the  first  to 
speak  upon  the  question.  There  was  no  need  for  him  to  argue 
in  favor  of  Reform;  that  even  the  Tories  were  willing  to  ac- 
knowledge now;  but  a  long  debate  followed,  and  the  Bill  was 
finally  rejected.  The  Commons  passed  a  vote  of  confidence, 
and  the  king  prorogued  Parliament,  that  the  Bill  might  be 
again  introduced.  In  the  meanwhile  the  Lords  received  many 
warnings  of  what  was  in  store  for  them  if  they  persisted.  The 
Duke  of  Wellington  could  not  appear  on  the  streets  of  London 
vithout  being  insulted;  a  London  mob  broke  all  the  windows 
on  one  side  of  the  palace  which  had  been  the  reward  of  his 
services  to  the  country ;  Lord  Londonderry  was  struck  sense- 
less from  his  horse  by  a  volley  of  stones ;  Nottingham  Castle, 
the  residence  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  was  burned  ;  with  ev- 
erywhere gatherings  of  angry  men,  demanding  the  rights  of 
freemen.  Parliament  met  again  in  December,  1831;  the  Bill 
again  passed  the  Commons,  and  the  second  reading  passed  the 


52  The  Beginning  of  Public  Life. 

Lords  by  a  majority  of  nine.  But  this  was  not  sufficient  to  in- 
sure its  final  success,  and  the  Premier  demanded,  as  a  last  resort, 
the  power  of  creating  a  sufficient  number  of  peers  to  insure  its 
success.  It  was  refused;  he  resigned;  the  king  sent  for  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  and  commissioned  him  to  form  a  Ministry. 
"  The  Duke,"  as  he  was  called  par  excellence,  essayed  the  task ; 
but  Sir  Robert  Peel  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter, 
and  without  his  assistance  the  Duke  could  not  prevail  upon  a 
single  man  to  accept  office  in  such  a  Ministry.  As  he  could  not 
well  do  all  himself,  he  resigned,  and  Grey  was  restored,  with  the 
power  which  he  had  demanded. 

The  Tory  peers  were  furious,  but  helpless.  One  of  them,  when 
he  learned  what  had  been  done,  arose  and  left  the  House.  Others 
continued  their  personal  attacks  upon  the  Premier;  but  it  was 
all  useless.  On  the  4th  of  June,  1832,  the  Reform  Bill  passed,  re- 
ceived the  assent  of  the  Sovereign,  and  became  the  law  of  the  land. 

It  is  because  the  first  Parliament  elected  after  the  passage  of 
this  famous  measure  was  the  first  in  which  Mr.  Gladstone  sat, 
that  we  have  devoted  so  much  space  to  its  consideration.  The 
history  of  a  statesman  must  include  at  least  something  of  the 
history  of  the  country  during  the  time  that  he  is  active  in  her 
councils ;  sometimes,  as  in  the  present  case,  this  history  must  ex- 
tend still  farther  back  ;  for,  as  we  have  seen,  and  shall  see,  the 
political  creed  of  Gladstone  was  largely  influenced  by  his  admir- 
ation for  a  statesman  whose  life  closed  just  as  the  ardent  admirer 
entered  upon  manhood. 

Mr.  Gladstone  was  an  intimate  friend  of  the  young  Earl  of  Lin- 
coln, the  son  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle.  That  high-born  oppon- 
ent of  Reform  had  demanded  of  the  Reformers  :  "Have  I  not  a 
right  to  do  as  I  like  with  my  own  ?"  The  question  of  course  re- 
ferred to  the  boroughs  of  which  he  was  the  patron;  and  passed 
into  a  political  maxim.  The  new  law  decided  the  answer — that 
the  boroughs  were  no  longer  his  own  but  the  property  of  a  con- 
siderably increased  number  of  electors,  whose  franchises  were 
based  on  a  property  qualification  much  smaller  than  such  a  re- 
quirement had  been  under  the  old  order  of  things.  But  His 
Grace  had  not  accepted  the  answer,  and  resolved  that  he  would 
still  have  the  disposal  of  his  borough  of  Newark.  Accordingly, 
he  invited  his  son's 'friend  to  stand  for  it.  It  was  this  invitation 
which  cut  Mr.  Gladstone's  continental  tour  short;  he  hurried 
back  to  England,  to  make  his  canvass. 


MR.  QLADSTONE  IN   HIS   LIBRARY  AT  HAWARDEN 


The  Beginning  of  Public  Life.  53 

The  country  was  in  a  state  of  feverish  expectation.  What 
would  be  the  composition  of  the  first  Reformed  House  of  Com- 
mons ?  The  Whigs  looked  for  an  immense  majority,  the  Tories 
shook  their  heads  and  prophesied  dreadful  things.  The  last  of 
September  saw  the  young  candidate  busily  canvassing  the  bor- 
ough ;  a  little  later,  his  first  election  address  was  issued,  which, 
as  it  was  the  first  public  utterance  of  the  man  who  for  more  than 
fifty  years  has  been  a  prominent  figure  in  the  English  Parlia- 
ment, we  append  in  full : 

CLINTON  ARMS,  NEWARK,  Oct.  9,  1832. 
To  the  Worthy  and  Independent  Electors  of  the  Borough  of  Newark : 

"  Having  now  completed  my  canvass,  I  think  it  now  my  duty  as 
well  to  remind  you  of  the  principles  on  which  I  have  solicited 
your  votes,  as  freely  to  assure  my  friends  that  its  result  has 
placed  the  result  beyond  a  doubt.  I  have  not  requested  your 
favor  on  the  ground  of  adherence  to  the  opinions  of  any  man  or 
party,  further  than  such  adherence  can  be  fairly  understood  from 
the  conviction  I  have  not  hesitated  to  avow,  that  we  must  watch 
and  resist  that  unenquiring  and  indiscriminating  desire  for 
change  amongst  us,  which  threatens  to  produce,  along  with  par- 
tial good,  a  melancholy  preponderance  of  mischief,  which,  I  am 
persuaded,  would  aggravate  beyond  computation  the  deep-seated 
evils  of  our  social  state,  and  the  heavy  burthens  of  our  industrial 
classes ;  which,  by  disturbing  our  peace,  destroys  confidence,  and 
strikes  at  the  root  of  prosperity.  Thus  it  has  done  already ;  and 
thus,  we  must  therefore  believe,  it  will  do. 

"  For  the  mitigation  of  these  evils,  we  must,  I  think,  look  not 
only  to  particular  measures,  but  to  the  restoration  of  sounder 
general  principles.  I  mean  especially  that  principle  on  which 
alone  the  incorporation  of  Religion  with  the  State  in  our  Con- 
stitution can  be  defended;  that  the  duties  of  governors  are  strict- 
ly and  peculiarly  religious  j  and  that  legislatures,  like  individ- 
uals, are  bound  to  carry  throughout  their  acts  the  spirit  of  the 
high  truths  they  have  acknowledged.  Principles  are  now  array- 
ed against  our  institutions;  and,  not  by  truckling  nor  by  tempor- 
ising, not  by  oppression  nor  corruption,  but  by  principles  they 
must  be  met. 

"Among  their  first  results  should  be  a  sedulous  and  special  at- 
tention to  the  interests  of  the  poor,  founded  upon  the  rule  that 
those  who  are  the  least  able  to  take  care  of  themselves  should  be 


54 


The  Beginning  of  Public  Life.  55 

most  regarded  by  others.  Particularly  is  it  a  duty  to  endeavor, 
by  every  means,  that  labor  may  receive  adequate  remuneration; 
which,  unhappily  among  several  classes  of  our  fellow-country- 
men, is  not  now  the  case.  Whatever  measures — therefore,  wheth- 
er by  correction  of  the  poor  laws,  allotment  of  cottage  grounds, 
or  otherwise — tend  to  promote  this  object,  I  deem  entitled  to  ibz 
warmest  support;  with  all  such  as  are  calculated  to  secuio 
sound  moral  conduct  in  any  class  of  society. 

"  I  proceed  to  the  momentous  question  of  slavery,  which  I  have 
found  entertained  among  you,  in  that  candid  and  temperate  spirit 
which  alone  befits  its  nature,  or  promises  to  remove  its  difficul- 
ties. If  I  have  not  recognized  the  right  of  an  irresponsible  so- 
ciety to  interpose  between  me  and  the  electors,  it  has  not  been 
from  any  disrespect  to  its  members,  nor  from  any  unwillingness 
to  answer  their  or  any  other  questions  on  which  the  electors 
may  desire  to  know  my  views.  To  the  esteemed  secretary  of  the 
society  I  submitted  my  reasons  for  silence;  and  I  made  a  point 
of  stating  those  reasons  to  him,  in  his  character  of  a  voter. 

"As  regards  the  abstract  lawfulness  of  slavery,  I  acknowledge 
it  simply  as  importing  the  right  of  one  man  to  the  labor  of  an- 
other, and  I  rest  it  upon  the  fact  that  Scripture,  the  paramount 
authority  upon  such  a  point,  gives  directions  to  persons  standing 
in  the  relation  of  master  to  slave,  for  their  conduct  in  that  rela- 
tion ;  whereas,  were  the  matter  absolutely  and  necessarily  sinful, 
it  would  not  regulate  the  manner.  Assuming  sin  as  the  cause  of 
degradation,  it  strives,  and  strives  most  effectually,  to  cure  the 
latter  by  extirpating  the  former.  We  are  agreed  that  both  the 
physical  and  the  moral  bondage  of  the  slave  are  to  be  abolished. 
The  question  is  as  to  the  order,  and  the  order  only;  now  Scrip- 
ture attacks  the  moral  evil  before  the  temporal  one,  andthetem- 
poral  through  the  moral  one,  and  I  am  content  with  the  order 
which  Scripture  has  established. 

"  To  this  end,  I  desire  to  see  immediately  set  on  foot,  by  impar- 
tial and  sovereign  authority,  a  universal  and  efficient  system  of 
Christian  instruction,  not  intended  to  resist  designs  of  individ- 
ual piety  and  wisdom  for  the  religious  improvement  of  the  ne- 
groes, but  to  do  thoroughly  what  they  can  only  do  partially. 

"  As  regards  immediate  emancipation,  with  or  without  compen- 
sation, there  are  several  minor  reasons  against  it ;  but  that  which 
weighs  with  me  is,  that  it  would,  I  much  fear,  change  the  evils 
now  affecting  the  negro  for  others  which  are  weightier;  for  a  re- 


56  The  Beginning  of  Public  Life. 

lapse  into  deeper  debasement,  if  not  for  bloodshed  and  internal 
war.  Let  fitness  be  made  a  condition  for  emancipation  ;  and  let 
us  strive  to  bring  him  to  that  fitness  by  the  shortest  possible 
course.  Let  him  enjoy  the  means  of  earning  his  freedom  through 
honest  and  industrious  habits ;  thus  the  same  instruments  which 
attain  his  liberty  shall  render  him  competent  to  use  it  j  and  thus, 
I  earnestly  trust,  without  risk  of  blood,  without  violation  of  prop- 
erty, with  unimpaired  benefit  to  the  negro,  and  with  the  utmost 
speed  which  prudence  will  admit,  we  shall  arrive  at  that  exceed- 
ingly desirable  consummation,  the  utter  extinction  of  slavery. 

"And  now,  gentlemen,  as  regards  the  enthusiasm  with  which 
you  have  rallied  round  your  ancient  flag,  and  welcomed  the 
humble  representative  of  those  principles  whose  emblem  it  is,  J 
trust  that  neither  the  lapse  of  time  nor  the  seductions  of  pros- 
perity can  ever  efface  it  from  my  memory.  To  my  opponents, 
my  ackriowlegments  are  due  for  the  good  humor  and  kindness 
with  which  they  have  received  me  j  and  while  I  would  thank  my 
friends  for  their  zealous  and  unwearied  exertions  in  my  favor,  I 
briefly  but  emphatically  assure  them,  that  if  promises  be  an  ad- 
quate  foundation  of  confidence,  or  experience  a  reasonable 
ground  of  calculation,  our  victory  is  sure. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  Gentlemen, 

Your  obliged  and  obedient  Servant, 

W.  E.  GLADSTONE." 

This  address  suggests  that  Gladstone's  opinions  on  the  subject 
of  slavery  had  been  called  in  question  by  a  society  having  for  its 
object  the  suppression  of  slavery  in  the  British  dominions.  Such 
was  indeed  the  case  ;  and  the  young  candidate  had  good  reasons 
for  not  desiring  to  state  his  opinions  rmblicly.  A  considerable 
portion  of  his  father's  wealth  was  drawn  from  the  West  Indies, 
where  he  had  large  estates,  worked  wholly  by  slave  labor, 
lie  was  somewhat  in  the  position  of  a  scion  of  a  Southern 
family,  in  American  ante-bellum  days,  when  called  upon  to  de- 
fend the  "peculiar  institution"  against  the  accusations  of  North- 
ern friends.  More  positive  condemnation  of  the  slave  question 
we  could  not  expect;  and  we  must  admire  the  dexterity  with 
which  he  has  avoided  committing  himself. 

The  opponents  of  Mr.  Gladstone  were  not  to  be  despised.  Mr. 
Handley  appears  to  have  been  of  much  less  note  than  Sergeant 
Wilde,  who  had  much  personal  popularity  in  Newark,  and  was  a 


The  Beginning  of  Public  Life.  57 

veteran  platform  orator.  This  gentleman,  says  a  paper  of  the 
time,  which  bitterly  opposed  the  Tories,  was,  on  his  entrance  in- 
to town,  met  by  almost  the  whole  population  ;  he  had  unsuccess- 
fully contested  the  borough  in  the  elections  of  1829  and  1830;  in 
1831  he  had  been  more  successful,  and  had  formed  one  of  the 
majority  for  the  Reform  Bill.  But  the  very  measure  which 
his  Liberal  supporters  had  hoped  would  secure  his  re-election, 
was  to  be  here  condemned  by  the  election  of  a  Tory  candidate. 

The  election  did  not  take  place  until  December.  In  the  mean 
time,  it  may  be  believed  that  the  various  candidates  and  their 
friends  were  not  idle.  Mr.  Gladstone,  though  a  stranger  to  the 
town,  and  hence  under  some  disadvantage  as  compared  with  the 
well-known  and  popular  Mr. Wilde,  had  mado  many  friends  among 
the  electors;  and  had  won  the  highest  praises  from  the  members 
of  the  Red  Club,  an  influential  Tory  organization.  This  number- 
ed some  six  hundred  and  fifty  or  more  voters,  and  these  were  al/ 
pledged  to  the  support  of  the  duke's  candidate.  Others  there 
were,  who  were  positively  promised;  and  the  election  was  well- 
nigh  assured. 

It  was  not  to  be  won  without  the  usual  disagreeable  concomit- 
ants, howe'ver.  "Who  is  Mr.  Gladstone?"  was  the  question  some- 
what contemptuously  asked  by  the  adherents  of  the  late  mem- 
ber for  the  borough.  The  question  was  of  course  answered  in 
two  ways  ;  said  the  Tory  organ,  Old  England: 

"He  is  the  son  of  the  friend  of  Mr.  Canning,  the  great  Liv- 
erpool merchant.  He  is,  we  understand,  not  more  than  four 
or  five  and  twenty,  but  he  has  won  golden  opinions  from  all 
sorts  of  people,  and  promises  to  be  an  ornament  to  the  House 
of  Commons."  On  the  other  hand,  the  Regulator,  the  Whig 
organ,  answered  the  same  query  in  this  way:  "Mr.  Gladstone 
is  the  son  of  Gladstone  of  Liverpool,  a  person  who  (we  are 
now  speaking  of  the  father)  has  amassed  a  large  fortune  by 
West  India  dealings.-  In  other  words,  a  great  part  of  his  gold  has 
sprung  from  the  blood  of  black  slaves.  Respecting  the  youth  him- 
self, a  person  fresh  from  college,  and  whose  mind  is  as  much  like 
a  sheet  of  foolscap  paper  as  possible,  he  was  utterly  unknown. 
He  came  recommended  by  no  claim  in  the  world  except  the  will  / 
oftheduke."  All  of  which  was  perfectly  true,  though  stated  with 
rather  too  much  contempt  for  what  we  think  of  the  long  famous 
Liberal. 

The  campaign  was  a  hot  one,  and  not  unmarked  by  those  at- 


58  The  Beginning  of  Public  Life. 

tempts  at  wit  which  are  frequently  no  more  than  so  many  in» 
suits  to  the  person  against  whom  they  are  leveled.  Among  these 
jokes,  of  the  more  innocent  and  allowable  kind  was  a  procession 
which  passed  through  the  streets,  bearing  a  coffin  inscribed 
"Young  Gladstone's  Ambition."  The  Whigs,  however,  were 
false  prophets;  for  the  event  showed  that  the  coffin  held  a  very 
lively  corpse. 

There  was  considerable  enthusiasm  for  him,  even  among  those 
who  had  formerly  supported  Sergeant  "Wilde;  for  his  straight- 
forward manner  and  speeches  made  friends  among  all.  Newark 
was  not  altogether  a  pocket  borough,  in  the  sense  that  some 
others  were  at  that  date;  for  the  electors  numbered  about  fifteen 
hundred  and  many  of  them  had  minds  of  their  own,  very  differ- 
ent in  bent  from  that  of  the  duke.  His  influence  was  consider- 
able ;  but  so  strong  was  Sergeant  Wilde  in  the  hearts  of  the 
Hcform  Whigs,  newly  encouraged  by  the  passage  of  the  great 
measure,  that  it  was  said  that  if  the  duke  had  brought  forward 
bis  own  son,  Lord  Lincoln,  as  a  candidate,  he  would  have  been 
Jcfeated. 

The  nomination  was  held  Dec.  llth,  the  election  being  fixed  for 
the  12th  and  13th.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  the  third  of  the  candi- 
dates in  the  nomination.  His  experience  upon  the  hustings  can 
not  have  been  a  very  pleasant  one,  as  he  was  assailed  by  ques- 
tions from  his  opponent's  supporters.  One  of  these  hostile  elec- 
tors demanded  if  he  were  not  the  Duke  of  Newcastle's  nominee. 
Now,  in  point  of  fact,  he  was  the  Duke  of  Newcastle's  nominee, 
and  everybody  there  present  was  perfectly  aware  of  the  fact ;  but 
the  question  was  asked,  that  an  argument  might  be  based  upon 
the  answer  ;  for  the  fact  was  not  to  be  denied.  Mr.  Gladstone's 
enemies  aver  that  he  is  skilled  in  the  art  of  talking  withoutsay- 
ing  anything;  of  satisfying  his  listeners  without  making  any  as- 
sertions to  commit  himself.  If  this  is  so,  he  began  at  an  early 
ago  ;  for  ho  certainly  evaded  this  embarrassing  question  in  quite 
a  neat  manner.  He  informed  the  gentleman  that  he  would  like 
to  know  what  ho  meant  by  the  expression  used;  if  the  elector 
would  tell  him  what  was  implied  by  the  term  "the  Duke  of 
Newcastle's  nominee,"  he  (Mr.  Gladstone)  would  tell  him  wheth- 
er the  term  applied  to  him  or  not.  The  Newarker,  who  thought 
that  he  had  his  enemy  in  a  tight  place,  fell  into  the  trap  at  once. 

The  duke's  nominee,  he  explained,  was  a  person  sent  to  be 
pushed  down  the  throats  of  the  electors,  whether  they  liked  him 


The  Beginning  of  Public  Life.  58 

or  not.  Whereupon  Mr.  Gladstone  suavely  answered  that,  accord- 
ing to  that  definition,  he  was  not  the  duke's  nominee  ;  he  had 
come  to  Newark  upon  the  invitation  of  the  Red  Club,  the  re- 
spectability and  intelligence  of  which  no  one  could  impugn.  This 
invitation,  he  said,  had  doubtless  been  extended  to  him  in  con- 
sequence of  his  friendship  with  the  Earl  of  Lincoln,  as  the  club 
had  applied  to  the  duke  to  know  if  he  could  recommend  a  suit- 
able candidate  to  them;  and  his  Grace  had  replied  by  suggest- 
ing himself  (Mr.  Gladstone).  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  elector 
was  satisfied  with  the  answer;  at  any  rate,  he  seems  to  have  had 
no  more  to  say. 

Another  question  remained  to  be  met — it  was  that  which  he 
hud  evaded  so  skillfully  in  his  address.  His  answer  upon  the 
hustings  seems  to  have  been  simply  an  enlargement  of  that 
which  had  been  given  in  print,  bat  so  stated  that  it  was  less 
equivocal  in  its  condemnation  of  the  slave  traffic  and  more  cer- 
tainly in  favor  of  emancipation. 

The  candidates  being  called  upon  to  address  the  meeting,  Ser- 
geant Wilde  chose  the  slavery  question  as  the  chief  subject  of  his 
speech,  which  lasted  for  more  than  three  hours.  He  was  follow- 
ed by  Mr.  Handley,  who  also  spoke  a  long  time,  and  mainly  on 
the  same  topic,  to  show  that  his  humanity  was  at  least  equal  to 
that  of  the  first  speaker.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  thus  at  a  consider- 
erable  disadvantage;  not  only  did  he  have  to  reply  to  these 
speeches  on  a  subject  which  he  could  hardly  discuss  freely,  but 
he  must  speak  to  men  worn  out  by  listening  to  two  long  speech- 
es, following  the  lively  dialogues,  some  small  portion  of  which 
we  have  described.  He  had  hardly  begun  to  speak  when  his 
voice  was  drowned  by  the  hooting  and  hissing  which  showed 
their  disinclination  to  listen  to  him,  and  he  soon  found  it  would 
be  impossible  to  proceed.  A  show  of  hands  was  demanded. 
There  were  few  or  none  for  Mr.  Gladstone,  beyond  his  support- 
ters  on  the  hustings;  and  a  poll  was  demanded.  From  the  first, 
this  told  a  very  different  tale;  for  he  took  the  lead  from  the 
start,  and  was  never  overtaken  by  his  rivals.  When  the  voting 
was  over,  the  result  stood :  Gladstone,  882 ;  Handley,  793 ; 
Wilde,  719. 

A  few  days  after  this  election,  Mr.  Gladstone  addressed  a 
meeting  of  the  Constitutional  Club  at  Nottingham.  Commenting 
upon  liis  address,  a  journal  of  the  day  observed:  "He  is  a  gen- 
tleman of  amiable  manners  and  the  most  extraordinary  talent  j 


60  The  Beginning  of  Public  Life, 

and  we  venture  to  predict,  without  the  slightest  exaggeration, 
that  he  will  one  day  be  classed  amongst  the  most  able  statesmen 
in  the  British  Senate."  Without  exaggeration,  he  has  been  class- 
ed amongst  the  most  able  statesmen  in  the  British  Senate. 

The  first  Reform  Parliament  met  Jan.  29, 1833.  Its  composition 
was  not  what  had  been  expected  j  for  now  that  the  great  measure 
had  been  carried,  many  of  the  Liberal-Conservatives  had  return- 
ed to  the  allegiance  from  which  the  popular  commotion  had  fright- 
ened them  j  the  Whig  majority  was  not  nearly  so  large  as  the 
Whigs  themselves  had  hoped,  or  the  Tories  had  feared.  But  there 
was  still  a  sufficient  majority  to  make  the  party  of  Beform  a 
formidable  enemy. 

There  remained  at  least  one  great  question  to  be  settled,  which 
had  been  agitated  for  a  number  of  years.  Before  the  American 
Revolution  began,  William  Wilberforce,  then  a  boy  at  school, 
had  begun  his  long  crusade  against  slavery  by  a  letter  written 
to  a  York  newspaper.  Of  efforts  in  that  direction  he  never 
wearied,  until  the  hand  of  death  itself  was  upon  him.  The  slave- 
trade  was  abolished  in  England  and  her  colonies  in  1806,  two 
years  before  the  time  when,  by  the  Constitution  framed  in  1787, 
it  was  abolished  in  this  country.  But  slavery  still  existed,  and 
the  friends  of  freedom,  cheered  by  this  partial  success,  brought 
new  energy  to  the  completion  of  their  task.  At  the  time  of 
which  we  write,  Wilberforce  was  more  than  seventy  years  old, 
and  the  ill  health  from  which  he  had  suffered  for  a  number  of 
years  had  long  kept  him  from  active  exertions.  Compelled  in  1825 
to  retire  from  Parliament,  where  for  thirty-six  years  he  had  nev- 
er ceased  to  press  the  great  question,  his  mantle  fell  upon  Sir 
Thomas  Fowell  Buxton,  then  plain  Mr.  Buxton,  who  had  long 
been  a  Parliamentary  advocate  of  every  measure  which  could 
improve  the  condition  of  the  helpless  and  oppressed.  He  was  no 
unworthy  successor  of  the  great  apostle  of  the  abolition  of  slav- 
ery, and  it  was  by  his  efforts  that  the  bill  to  do  away  with  slav- 
ery in  the  British  colonies  was  introduced  in  this  session  of  Par- 
liament. 

Nor  was  the  slave  without  other  and  powerful  advocates.  The 
brilliant  eloquence  of  Macaulay,  the  son  of  that  Zachary  Macau- 
lay  who  had  done  as  much  as  any  one  for  the  abolition  of  slav- 
ery, was  enlisted  in  its  behalf  j  and  Brougham  had  thrilled  the 
House  with  his  appalling  stories  of  the  abuse  of  despotic  power 
in  the  colonies. 


The  Beginning  of  Public  Life. 


61 


Much  to  the  disappointment  of  those  so  much  interested  in  this 
question,  the  royal  speech  did  not  make  any  mention  of  it.  The 
abolitionists  at  once  demanded  to  know  if  the  Government  meant 
to  take  any  action  in  this  connection.  The  Ministry  asked  for  time 
to  consider,  which  was  granted.  The  matter  was  submitted  to  Lord 
Stanley,  afterward  Earl  of  Derby.  He  was  the  very  man  to  whom 
it  should  have  been  intrusted,  for  when  his  feelings  were  aroused, 
ho  rose  to  the  height  of  a  genuine  eloquence,  and  the  rarity  of 
such  occasions  made  them  doubly  influential  upon  his  listeners. 
His  sympathies  were  excited  on  behalf  of  the  slaves,  and  aided  by 
the  steady  forethought  which  was  one  of  his  marked  qualities, 
he  was  able  to  devise  a 
plan  which,  with  a  few 
modifications,  proved  to 
be  acceptable  to  the  two 
parties.  All  children 
born  after  the  passage  of 
the  act,  or  less  than  six 
years  old  at  the  time  of 
its  passage,  were  declared 
free,  though  subject  to 
such  restrictions  as  might 
be  necessary  for  their  sup- 
port and  maintenance;  all 
persons  over  that  age, 
registered  as  slaves,  were 
to  be  apprenticed  to  their 
masters  for  a  stated  length 
of  time,  to  be  fixed  by 
Parliament;  the  Government  was  to  remunerate  the  slave-owners 
for  the  loss  thus  occasioned,  and  the  sum  of  £20,000,000  was  set 
aside  for  that  purpose.  This  was  the  Act  of  Emancipation  as  it 
passed  the  House ;  it  differed  but  slightly  from  the  bill  proposed 
by  the  Colonial  Secretary. 

The  debate  was  a  bitter  one,  and  sometimes  assumed  a  person 
al  form,  or  as  nearly  that  as  the  rules  of  the  House  of  Commons 
will  allow.  It  was  the  business  of  those  who  had  profited  by  it  to 
defend  the  iniquitous  system  of  traffic  in  human  beings  and  the 
evils  resulting  from  it.  There  was  at  least  one  such  in  the  House. 
"  There  is  not  a  stone  in  the  walls  of  Liverpool  but  is  cemented 
by  the  blood  of  Africans,"  the  people  of  that  city  had  once  been 


William  Wilberforcc. 


62  The  Beginning  of  Public  Life. 

told,  and  truly.  Much  of  the  wealth  which  had  enabled  Mr. 
Gladstone  the  elder  to  take  such  a  high  position  among  his  fel- 
low-merchants had  been,  like  theirs,  drawn  from  "West  Indian  es- 
tates, where  the  labor  was  done  altogether  by  slaves.  These  es- 
tates were  so  large,  and  Mr.  Gladstone's  name  so  well  known 
(Sir  Eobert  Peel  had  in  1819  quoted  the  opinion  of  "Mr.  Glad- 
stone, the  great  Liverpool  merchant,"  as  high  authority  upon 
some  question  of  expedience),  that  they  formed  a  convenient  ex- 
nrnplo.  During  the  course  of  the  debate,  Lord  Howick  referred 
to  the  decrease  in  the  number  of  slaves  on  an  estate  in  Dem- 
erara,  owned  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  which  he  claimed  was  pro- 
duced by  the  inhuman  manner  in  which  the  slaves  were  worked. 
The  elder  Gladstone  was  without  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons at  this  time,  and  hence  he  was  referred  to  by  name;  and 
his  son  found  himself  obliged  to  answer  the  accusations  thus 
brought  against  the  name.  His  maiden  speech  in  the  House  was 
delivered  May  17,  1833.  He  did  not  defend  slavery  in  general, 
but  contented  himself  with  asserting  the  groundlessness  of  some 
of  tho  statements  which  Lord  Howick  had  made;  and  showed 
that  the  decrease  had  been  caused  by  the  transfer  of  some  of  the 
slaves  to  other  estates.  He  admitted  that  the  cultivation  of  sugar 
was  more  detrimental  to  those  engaged  in  it  than  some  other 
;-rops,  but  instanced  trades  in  England  itself,  such  as  painting, 
n.nd  working  in  lead  mines,  which  were  similarly  injurious  to 
those  engaged  in  them.  The  speech  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
regarded  us  of  any  importance  to  the  subject  in  general ;  it  was 
rather  a  defense  of  his  father  personally,  and  a  proof  of  the 
well-known  kindness  of  the  overseer  employed  by  him. 

His  second  speech  followed  this  after  but  a  short  interval,  and 
was  of  the  same  general  character.  But  in  this  he  took  a  some- 
what broader  view  of  the  matter,  and  defined  his  own  opinions 
regarding  the  subject  with  more  precision.  Beginning  with  the 
charges  which  Lord  Howick  had  made,  he  showed  yet  more 
plainly  that  these  especial  wrongs  of  the  slave  were  without  ac- 
tual existence.  Proceeding  to  the  discussion  of  the  general  prin- 
ciples involved,  he  confessed  with  shame  and  pain  that  many 
cases  of  wanton  cruelty  had  occurred  in  the  colonies,  both 
in  branding  the  slaves,  and  whipping  them  beyond  the  limits  of 
human  endurance;  he  added  that  these  cruelties  would  always 
be  practised,  under  any  system  of  slavery,  in  some  instances  at 
least;  and  while  the  West  Indies  represented  these  as  rare  and 


The  Beginning  of  Public  Life.  63 

isolated  cases,  and  maintained  that  the  ordinary  relation  of 
master  and  slave  was  a  friendly  one,  he  admitted  that  a  system 
which  permitted  these  things  is  necessarily  repugnant  to  the 
principles  of  civilization  and  Christianity  by  which  the  British 


Gladstone's  First  Speech  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

empire  is  ruled.  He  demanded  that  the  planters  should  be  re- 
compensed for  the  loss  which  would  be  entailed  upon  them  by 
emancipation  (the  original  proposition  was  that  the  Government 
should  loan  £15,000,000  to  enable  the  planters  to  carry  on  their 


64  The  Sec/inning  of  Public  Life. 

plantations),  and  that  a  plan  should  be  adopted  by  which  the  de* 
serving  negroes  might  be  freed  before  the  idle  and  incompetent 
ones. 

When  we  consider  the  circumstances  in  which  the  young  M.  P. 
was  placed,  and  the  feelings  with  which  he  had  been  educated 
we  can  hardly  expect  any  more  generous  speech  than  this  utter- 
ance. Had  he  been  brought  up  with  such  an  abhorrence  of  slav- 
ery as  had  been  inculcated  in  the  minds  of  Wilberforce's  child- 
ren, he  would  doubtless  have  spoken  more  strongly;  but  he  was 
naturally  one  of  the  opponents  of  abolition,  like  the  slave-own- 
ers of  America.  Had  the  American  Abolitionists  acted  with  as 
much  consideration  as  Lord  Stanley,  the  slave-owners  would 
perhaps  have  responded  in  the  same  spirit  j  and  Emancipation 
would  have  been  a  peaceful  measure. 

The  bill  passed  its  second  reading  ten  days  before  the  death  of 
Wilberforce;  its  success  was  assured  by  the  majorities  which 
had  sanctioned  it  thus  far,  and  the  known  attitude  of  many  of  the 
Lords ;  thus  the  great,  good  old  man  had  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing,  in  the  hours  of  death,  that  his  life  had  not  been  spent 
in  vain  j  that  the  impetus  which  he  had  given  to  this  philanthro- 
pic effort  had  secured  its  ultimate  success,  and  laid  the  founda- 
tion for  the  happiness  of  thousands  of  oppressed  and  benighted 
men. 

The  question  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  having  been  settled, 
there  arose  that  ghost  which  continually  haunts  the  halls  of 
Parliament,  and,  like  Banquo's,  will  not  down.  This  was  a  form 
of  the  Irish  question,  at  that  particular  time  embodied  in  an  ef- 
fort to  settle  the  difficulties  arising  from  the  difference  between 
the  Established  Church  of  Ireland  and  that  of  the  people.  The 
act  of  Union  had  provided  that  the  Episcopal  Church,  as  we  know 
it,  should  be  the  Church  of  Ireland  as  it  was  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land ;  and  in  every  parish  there  was  a  duly  presented  incum- 
bent. Sometimes  the  whole  representation  of  the  Established 
Church  in  a  parish  would  bo  the  incumbent  and  his  clerk.  Un- 
der such  circumstances,  the  collection  of  tithes,  from  people  who 
supported  another  church,  was  not  only  a  great  hardship,  but 
well-nigh  impossible.  The  Government  persisted  in  supporting 
churches  and  the  clergy,  whether  there  were  any  communicants 
or  not.  The  priests  had  been  tacitly  exempted  from  the  pay- 
ment of  tithes  until  about  1830,  when  some  over-zealous  tithe- 
proctor  seized  a  priest's  horse  in  default  of  payment.  The  peo- 


The  Beginning  of  Public  Life.  65 

pie  in  general  had  long  been  accustomed  to  allow  their  property 
to  be  seized  in  this  way,  as  they  would  not  pay  voluntarily  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  Establishment,  and  the  Government  in- 
sisted upon  making  collections.  But  to  have  the  priest  himself 
thus  taxed  for  the  support  of  the  alien  religion,  was  too  much 
for  their  patience.  There  had  been  riots  before  this  time,  when 
the  police  had  fired  among  the  crowd  with  deadly  effect;  riots 
described  with  such  pathos  by  the  great  Irish  orator,  O'Con- 
nell,  that  young  Charles  Dickens,  a  reporter  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  and  the  most  skillful  that  ever  did  that  work,  laid 
down  his  pencil  and  declared  that  he  could  not  go  on;  that 
speaker's  subject  and  manner  had  too  powerfully  affected  him. 
The  priests  now  denounced  the  payment  of  tithes  from  the  pul- 
pit; it  was  the  one  thing  which  had  been  wanting;  and  the  dex- 
terity and  perseverance  which  the  people  exercised  in  avoiding 
the  payment  of  the  hated  tax  would,  if  applied  to  their  daily 
work,  have  enabled  them  to  pay  it  ten  times  over.  But  as  in  the 
case  of  a  celebrated  small  tax  upon  tea,  which  the  British  Gov- 
ernment once  imposed,  it  was  the  principle  which  was  at  stake. 
The  authorities  tried  every  plan  to  collect  the  tithes,  but  it  was 
of  no  avail.  Finally,  in  this  session  of  Parliament,  a  plan  was 
proposed,  which  would  enable  the  incumbents  to  hold  their  own, 
for  a  while  at  least.  The  Government  was  not  without  feeling 
for  the  clergy,  whose  lot  was  not  a  very  enviable  one ;  this  same 
tax,  which  there  was  such  an  ado  about  collecting,  was  their 
means  of  subsistence;  whatever  were  the  merits  of  the  case,  they 
were  not  to  blame  for  the  fact  that  the  Church  of  the  State  and 
the  Church  of  the  people  were  not  the  same  ;  and  the  Govern- 
ment which  had  placed  them  in  their  present  position  could  not, 
with  common  decency,  leave  them  to  starve.  The  arrears  of  the 
tithes  amounted,  in  1833,  to  more  than  a  million  and  a  quarter 
sterling;  an  arrearage  which  was  distributed  among  an  immense 
number  of  men  whose  sole  means  of  living  it  was.  Lord  Althorp 
brought  forward  a  bill  which  provided  for  the  Government  as- 
suming this  debt,  and  looking  to  its  own  collectors  for  repay- 
ment. Mr.  Gladstone  spoke  against  this  bill,  which,  he  said,  he 
feared  would  place  the  Irish  Church  on  an  untenable  foundation. 
Admitting  the  principle  that  the  State  ought  to  maintain  the  Es- 
tablished Church,  he  denied  that  the  means  provided  in  this  plan 
were  adapted  to  secure  the  ends  wished.  Mr.  Gladstone  seems 
to  have  been  extremely  unfortunate  in  his  choice  of  subjects  on 

5 


66  The  Beginning  of  Public  Life. 

which  to  speak,  for  in  this  case,  as  in  the  first,  he  was  left  wo- 
fully  in  the  minority  when  it  came  to  a  division. 

Nor  did  any  better  effects  result  from  his  speech  on  the  sub- 
ject of  admission  to  the  universities,  upon  which  Parliament 
found  it  necessary  to  legislate.  It  was  proposed  to  remove  the 
necessity  of  subscription  to  the  Thirty-nine  Articles;  and  the 
bill  passed  by  a  majority  of  89.  We  find  no  further  evidence  of 
the  activity  of  this  young  member  of  the  opposition  during  the 
remainder  of  this  year.  The  topics  of  importance  had  all  been 
discussed  and  settled,  for  the  time  at  least.  Slavery  was  abol- 
ished, though  it  would  not  actually  cease  for  several  years  to 
come  ;  and  the  affair  had  been  managed  in  such  a  way  that  the 
fears  of  the  planters  had  been  allayed,  and  the  numerous  predic- 
tions of  ungovernable  tumults  and  murderous  riots  by  the  ne- 
groes as  the  result  of  their  emancipation  had  been  completely 
falsified  by  the  event.  The  troubles  of  the  Irish  Church  had  been 
settled  for  as  long  a  time  as  the  amount  of  money  appropriated 
would  pay  the  tithes;  though  the  Irish  people  were  still  to  be 
oppressed,  to  repay  the  Government  for  this  outlay.  The  re- 
quirements of  admission  to  the  University  of  Oxford  had  been 
so  far  changed  that  others  than  members  of  the  Established 
Church  might  now  enter  that  institution  of  learning,  which  had 
never  swayed  from  strict  orthodoxy  since  its  early  lapse  in  de- 
fending Wiclif.  Such  were  three  of  the  great  measures  of  the 
Parliament  which  met  immediately  after  the  passage  of  the  first 
Keform  Bill. 

But  the  Government  which  had  passed  these  measures  was 
materially  weakened  by  the  loss  of  one  of  its  members.  Lord  Al- 
thorp,  who  had  held  the  post  of  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
had,  by  the  death  of  his  father,  become  Lord  Spencer  and  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Lords.  This  made  it  necessary  for  a 
new  Chancellor  to  be  appointed,  and  raised  further  difficulties 
peculiar  to  the  situation.  Lord  Althorp's  influence  had  been  suf- 
ficient to  keep  the  party  of  the  Government  tolerably  united; 
the  Prime  Minister,  Earl  Grey,  and  his  successor,  Yiscount  Mel- 
bourne, being  of  course  removed  from  any  direct  influence  over 
the  members  of  the  lower  house ;  but  now  there  was  no  one  who 
could  prevent  fatal  divisions  among  the  Whigs  of  the  Commons. 

The  king  saw  the  difficulties  which  had  arisen,  and  was  be- 
sides of  the  opinion  that  the  days  of  this  party  were  numbered,  so 
far  as  their  present  tenure  of  office  was  concerned.  He  refused, 


The  Duke  of  Wellington. 


67 


68  The  Beginning  of  Public  Life. 

then,  to  allow  the  appointment  of  Lord  Althorp's  successor;  Lord 
Melbourne  and  his  colleagues  were  dismissed,  and  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  was  summoned.  He  advised  that  Sir  Bobert  Peel 
should  be  sent  for,  as  he  felt  unequal  or  unwilling  himself  to  un- 
dertake the  work  of  forming  a  cabinet;  the  old  soldier  had  not 
quite  forgiven  the  people  of  England  for  passing  the  Beform 
Bill,  and  could  not  stoop  to  take  office  under  a  Beformed  Govern- 
ment. His  counsel  was  accepted,  and  Sir  Bobert,  who  was  trav- 
eling in  Italy,  hastened  home. 

This  was  in  December,  1834.  The  new  Premier  had  watched, 
as  all  men  of  ability  in  similar  positions  must,  the  rise  of  the 
younger  members  of  Parliament,  who  were  destined  to  carry  on 
the  work  of  ruling  the  country  when  he  and  his  generation 
should  have  passed  away.  Among  such  the  young  member  for 
Newark  had  not  been  unnoted.  The  skill  and  ability  with  which 
he  had  spoken  against  the  measures  of  the  Government  had  not 
escaped  the  watchful  eyes  of  the  elder  man;  and  when  the  new 
cabinet  was  formed,  though  there  was  no  room  in  it  for  a  man  of 
barely  twenty-five,  the  subordinate  post  of  Junior  Lord  of 
the  Treasury  was  offered  him,  and,  as  may  easily  be  guessed,  not 
declined. 

In  this  connection,  wo  note  that  though  the  action  of  William 
IV.  in  dismissing  a  Ministry  which  had  as  yet  sustained  no  nota- 
ble defeat  in  the  House  of  Commons  appears  arbitrary  and  op- 
posed to  the  principles  of  Constitutional  Government,  it  was  in 
strict  accordance  with  the  practice  of  his  father,  his  brother,  and 
himself  at  other  times.  Queen  Victoria  is  the  first  English  sov- 
ereign whoso  ministers  have  invariably  been  chosen  with  refer- 
ence to  the  demands  of  the  Commons,  and  retained  in  office  un- 
til the  Commons  have  demanded  a  change. 


CHAPTER   III. 

EARLY  OFFICIAL  LIFE. 

Whigs  Versus  Tories  -  Trained  in  Early  Life  to  Speak  in  Public—Account  of 
Sir  Robert  Peel— Events  Following  the  Passage  of  the  Reform  Act— Mr. 
Gladstone  as  Junior  Lord  of  the  Treasury— Canadian  Troubles  of  1837— 
Death  of  King  William  IV. — Address  to  His  Constituents — Accession  of 
Victoria  to  the  Throne — More  Agitation  of  the  Slavery  Question — Debate 
on  the  War  with  China— Queen  Victoria's  Marriage— Popularity  of  the 
Prince  Consort. 

IR  EOBEET  PEEL  was  the  eldest  son  of  a  baronet  of  the 
same  nair.e,  whose  wealth  and  prominence  as  a  manufactur- 
er had  secured  the  elevation  to  a  baronetage  from  Mr.  Pitt. 
His  Toryism  was  well  denned  and  uncompromising;  so 
that  when,  on  the  birth  of  his  son,  he  vowed  he  would  give  him 
to  his  country,  it  was  understood  by  all  hearers  that  the  boy  was 
to  be  devoted  to  the  Tory  party.  But  in  the  days  which  the  young- 
er Peel  was  to  see,  the  old-time  distinctions  of  Tory  and  Whig 
were  to  go  out  of  fashion ;  and  in  their  place  were  to  come 
Conservatives  and  Liberals.  There  had  indeed  been  use  for 
these  two  latter  names  before,  but  only  as  minor  branches  of  the 
two  parties;  after  the  passage  of  the  Reform  Bill,  it  seems  that 
the  broadly  marked  distinctions  were  permitted  to  fade  out;  and 
the  more  moderate  parties  obtained  the  ascendency.  There  are 
still  Whigs  and  Tories,  it  is  true,  but  they  are  looked  upon  as 
followers  of  a  fashion  which  has  long  ago  passed  away.  It  is  our 
pride  that  we  lean  toward  our  opponents'  party  so  far  that  we 
can  see  the  reasons  which  influence  their  actions. 

The  education  of  the  boy  thus  devoted  to  his  party  was  con- 
ducted by  the  father  with  the  most  jealous  care  that  it  should  be 
such  as  would  fit  him  to  take  part  in  parliamentary  proceedings  to 
the  best  possible  advantage.  From  childhood  he  was  trained  to 
speak  in  public,  by  being  placed  upon  a  table  each  Sunday,  when 
the  family  returned  from  church,  and  bidden  to  repeat  as  much  of 
the  sermon  as  he  could  recall,  At  Harrow,  where  he  was  the 

69 


70  Early  Official  Life. 

form-fellow  of  Lord  Byron,  he  won  golden  opinions  by  his  dili- 
gence and  ability.  At  Oxford,  where  he  was  entered  at  Christ 
Church,  he  was  the  first  to  win  a  double-first  class  under  the  new 
and  more  stringent  examination.  Hampden  and  Whatelcy  were 
among  the  competitors  whom  he  distanced.  He  entered  the 
House  of  Commons  for  the  first  time  as  the  member  for  a  bor- 
ough which  was  regularly  sold  to  the  highest  bidder,  and  his  first 
speech  showed  that  the  Tory  Government  had  gained  a  valuable 
supporter.  He  had  won  his  reputation  as  a  speaker  by  an  elo 
quent  eulogy  upon  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  which  he  found  oc- 
casion to  deliver  in  1811,  on  the  occasion  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment subsidizing  some  Portuguese  troops.  How  far  this  influ- 
enced the  Duke  in  his  after  treatment  of  Mr.  Peel,  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  say  ;  the  man  of  the  strictest  justice  is  often  unconscious- 
ly swayed  by  some  such  action  of  those  with  whom  he  has  to 
deal.  He  was  barely  twenty-four  when  he  was  made  Chief  Sec- 
retary for  Ireland  j  a  post  which  then,  as  now,  was  not  without 
its  difficulties.  It  is  hard  to  say  whether  it  is  a  matter  of  greater 
difficulty  to  deal  with  an  opponent  like  O'Connell,  or  one  like  Par- 
nell;  the  scathing  satire  and  coarse  rough  humor  were  quite 
enough  to  keep  the  young  minister  busy,  without  imagining  the 
difficulties  which  might  beset  some  successor  from  quite  a  differ- 
ent kind  of  man. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  he  was  opposed  to  the  claims  of  the 
Catholics  being  granted  j  there  were  but  few  of  the  Tories  who 
were  not ;  and  this  led  to  the  conferring  of  a  nickname  upon  him 
which  is  remembered  now  as  one  of  the  happiest  puns  ever  per- 
petrated in  politics :  the  opponent  of  the  Irish  Catholics  was 
dubbed  "Orange  Peel."  But  he  was  not  wholly  acceptable  to  the 
party  for  whom  he  was  thus  named.  His  moderation  in  some 
respects  offended  them;  but  he  held  the  office  for  a  longtime. 

His  duel  with  O'Connell  was  long  made  the  means  of  casting 
a  good  deal  of  ridicule  upon  him.  O'Connell  had  taunted  Peel 
with  being  afraid  to  use  certain  expressions  in  any  place  where 
he  could  be  called  to  account  for  them.  Peel  resented  this  at 
once,  and  authorized  a  friend  to  act  as  his  second.  O'Connell 
promptly  named  one  of  his  friends  for  the  same  duty.  The  two 
seconds  met,  but  were  unable  to  agree  from  which  party  the 
challenge  was  due.  To  settle  this  question,  they  eventually 
challenged  one  another.  O'Connell  claimed  that  Peel  was  trying 
by  this  means  to  get  out  of  it  j  Peel  found  another  second,  less 


Early  Official  Life.  71 

quarrelsome  than  the  first,  and  challenged  O'Connell.  The  latter 
was  arrested,  and  bound  over  to  keep  the  peace  j  they  agreed  to 
go  abroad  j  but  O'Connell  was  again  arrested,  and  not  released 
until  he  had  given  bonds  not  to  quit  the  country.  Such  was  the 
end  of  th«  fpmous  duel  between  O'Connell  and  Peel,  if  it  is  no* 
too  great  a  bull  to  speak  of  the  end  of  an  affair  which  never  took 
place. 

To  go  back  to  the  graver  events  of  Peel's  life.  There  is  one 
thing  which  was  done  in  connection  with  his  Irish  Secretaryship 
which  was  a  real  and  much-needed  reform  :  the  military  ceased 
to  be  employed  in  the  repression  of  popular  outbreaks,  and  a 
civil  force  of  police  was  substituted.  It  seems  to  make  but  little 
difference  by  what  agency  oppression  is  carried  on  ;  but  a  little 
reflection  will  make  it  plain  that  a  police  force,  responsible  to 
the  civil  authorities,  is  vastly  preferable  to  soldiery,  command- 
ed by  their  own  officers,  even  though  the  latter  are  nomina^y 
under  the  direction  of  the  magistrates. 

Resigning  the  Irish  Secretaryship  in  1817,  he  was  out  of  office 
for  three  years.  In  1819  he  showed  remarkable  financial  ability  ir 
connection  with  the  action  which  was  taken  on  the  redemption 
of  Bank  of  England  notes  in  gold.  The  Bank  Act,  which  he  was 
mainly  instrumental  in  framing,  is  still  the  law  which  governs 
the  monetary  system  of  the  country. 

Like  his  great  rival,  Cunning,  Peel  defended  the  course  of  the 
Government  in  those  oppressions  which  culminated  in  the  Peter- 
loo  Massacre  j  and,  like  Canning,  he  would  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  action  of  the  king  against  his  queen,  when  Caroline  of 
Brunswick  claimed  the  title  of  Queen  Consort.  Made  Home 
Secretary  in  1821,  he  was  subordinate,  in  a  measure,  to  Mr.  Can- 
ning, whose  brilliant  talents  overshadowed  all  of  his  colleagues, 
though  he  was  not  the  nominal  head  of  the  Government.  Here 
again  he  introduced  reforms,  simplifying  and  humanizing  the 
laws  in  regard  to  crime.  Up  to  1810,  there  were  no  fewer  than 
two  hundred  and  eighty-three  laws  upon,  the  statute  book  relat- 
ing to  offences  for  which  death  was  the  penalty.  Peel's  was 
the  first  hand  that  dealt  a  blow  at  this  cruel  and  ineffective  leg- 
islation j  and  although  the  reform  which  he  instituted  was  not  a 
complete  one,  it  must  be  remembered  that  there  are  limits  to  the 
possibilities  of  changing  existing  laws,  which  do  not  all  arise 
from  the  unwillingness  of  the  statesman. 

We  have  already  noted  the  contest  which  ensued  when  Lord 


72 


Early  Official  Life. 


Liverpool  died.  After  the  death  of  Canning,  Peel  found  that  it  was 
impossible  to  resist  the  claims  of  the  Catholics  any  longer.  It 
had  been  predicted  by  a  close  observer,  who  watched  the  course 
of  affairs  from  a  place  of  privilege,  that  "the  march  of  time 
and  the  state  of  Ireland  will  effect  it  in  spite  of  everything,"  and 
Catholic  Emancipation  became  an  accomplished  fact. 

With  his  party,  Peel  had  been  in  the  minority  during  the  Parlia- 
ment elected  after  the  passage  of  the  Keform  Act ;  but  this  mi- 
nority diminished  daily.  It  was  at  this  time  that  Sir  Robert, 


Sir  Robert  Peel. 

the  leader  of  his  party,  had  the  good  sense  to  adopt  the  newer 
name  by  which  it  has  been  known  since  his  time ;  and  men  who 
had  been  bitterly  opposed  to  Tories  found  themselves  not  unwil- 
ling to  give  support  to  Conservative  measures.  At  the  same  time, 
the  services  which  he  had  himself  rendered  to  the  old  Tory  par- 
ty made  the  continuance  of  its  supporters'  allegiance  sure. 

The  Whigs  were  suffering  from  the  consequences  of  victory, 
and  it  had  become  impossible  for  the  leaders  of  the  party  to 


Early  Official  Life.  73 

please  the  less  progressive  adherents  and  the  new  "Whigs,  or  Lib- 
erals, as  they  had  begun  to  call  themselves,  at  the  same  time. 
Although  there  had  been  no  direct  rebuke  of  the  Whig  policy  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  the  king  was  not  far  out  of  the  way  in 
dismissing  his  ministers,  and  forming  a  Conservative  cabinet. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  acceptance  of  the  office  of  Junior  Lord  of  the 
Treasury  was  dated  Dec.  24,  1834.  According  to  English  law  and 
precedent,  by  accepting  an  office  of  profit  under  the  Crown,  he 
vacated  his  seat  and  the  Speaker  issued  his  writ  for  a  new  elec- 
tion at  Newark.  In  his  address  to  the  electors,  Gladstone  re- 
viewed the  history  of  the  session,  showing  how  the  relative  po- 
sitions of  the  two  parties  had  essentially  changed  since  the  mem- 
bers had  subscribed  the  roll.  He  seems  to  have  thought  that 
with  the  Whig  Ministry  Reform  had  run  mad,anddeprecatesthe 
fact  that  there  were  even  "those  among  the  servants  of  the  king 
who  did  not  scruple  to  solicit  the  suffrages  of  their  constituents 
with  promises  to  act  on  the  principles  of  Radicalism."  An  in- 
telligent man  could  not  deny  the  necessity  for  many  reforms; 
nor  did  the  young  candidate  attempt  such  a  hopeless  and  useless 
task.  "The  question  has  then,"  he  went  on  to  say,  "as  it  appears 
to  me,  become,  whether  we  are  to  hurry  onward  at  intervals,  but 
not  long  ones,  through  the  medium  of  the  ballot,  short  parlia- 
ments, and  other  measures  called  popular,  into  republicanism  or 
anarchy;  or  whether,  independently  of  all  party  considerations, 
the  people  will  support  the  Crown,  in  the  discharge  of  its  duty 
to  maintain  in  efficiency  and  transmit  in  safety  those  old  and 
valuable  institutions  under  which  our  country  has  greatly  flour- 
ished." In  regard  to  Church  matters,  however,  he  saw  that 
there  was  real  need  of  reform.  "Let  me  add,  shortly  but  em- 
phatically, concerning  the  reform  of  actual  abuses,  whether  in 
Church  or  State,  that  I  regard  it  as  a  sacred  duty — a  duty  at  all 
times,  and  certainly  not  least  at  a  period  like  this,  when  the  dan- 
ger of  neglecting  it  is  most  clear  and  imminent — a  duty  not  inim- 
ical to  true  and  determined  Conservative  principle,  nor  a  curtail- 
ment and  modification  of  such  principle,  but  its  legitimate  con- 
sequence, or  rather  an  actual  element  of  its  composition." 

He  was  confronted  at  first  by  the  same  opponents  who  had 
contested  the  former  election;  but  Mr.  Handley  having  with- 
drawn, Mr.  Gladstone  and  the  Liberal  candidate,  Sergeant  Wilde, 
were  returned  without  opposition.  The  people  of  Newark  felt 
that  they  had  reason  to  be  proud  of  their  representative ;  his 


74  Early  Official  Life. 

had  been  a  brilliant  record,  for  a  young  man  who  had  but  recent- 
ly entered  upon  the  arena  of  political  life.  According  to  the 
time-honored  custom,  he  was  chaired,  and  as  the  procession 
wended  its  way  through  the  streets,  he  was  received  by  all  parties 
with  the  most  flattering  enthusiasm.  At  the  rooms  of  his  Com- 
mittee, Mr.  Gladstone  addressed  the  electors  to  the  number  of 
uix  thousand,  and  was  greeted  with  deafening  cheers. 

Mr.  Gladstone  did  not  long  hold  the  office  to  which  he  had 
been  appointed  so  shortly  after  his  chief's  accession  to  power  ; 
but  he  left  it  to  accept  one  which  was  more  desirable — that  of 
Under-Secretary  for  the  Colonies.  This  change  took  place 
shortly  after  Parliament  assembled,  in  February,  1835.  Act- 
ing in  this  capacity,  he  brought  in  his  first  bill  in  March  of  that 
year.  Intended  for  the  better  regulation  of  the  carriage  of  pas- 
sengers in  merchant  vessels  to  North  America,  it  contained 
many  humane  provisions,  and  was  most  favorably  received. 

But  the  Peel  Ministry  was  a  short-lived  one.  It  came  to  grief 
upon  the  question  of  the  Irish  Church,  and  the  ministers  were 
again  defeated  on  the  question  of  appropriating  the  surplus 
funds  of  the  Church  to  the  general  education  of  all  classes  of 
Christians.  In  the  bitter  and  acrimonious  debates  which  attend- 
ed these  two  defeats,  Mr.  Gladstone  was  noticeable  by  the  cour- 
teous bearing  which  has  always  distinguished  him,  and  the  gen- 
eral urbanity  of  his  manners. 

Having  thus  lost  the  support  of  the  House,  the  Peel  Ministry  of 
course  resigned,  including  the  officers  who  were  without  seats  in 
the  cabinet.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  again  in  opposition,  and  remain- 
ed there  for  some  time. 

Shortly  after  this,  we  find  him  again  defending  the  West  In- 
dian planters  from  the  accusations  which  were  brought  against 
them  as  a  class,  but  based  upon  the  cruelties  practiced  by  a  few ; 
for  the  apprenticeship  system  gave  the  masters  almost  as  much 
power,  while  it  lasted,  as  the  old  system  of  slavery. 

After  a  speech  supporting  the  Government  against  the  House 
of  Assembly  of  Canada,  when  the  Canadian  troubles  of  1837 
came  before  Parliament,  Mr.  Gladstone  again  spoke  in  opposi- 
tion on  the  question  of  Church  Rates;  and.it  is  said  by  a  compe- 
tent authority  that  this  was  the  best  and  most  impassioned 
speech  which  he  had  yet  made.  His  opposition,  however,  did 
not  produce  any  appreciable  effect,  as  the  Government  carried 
^he  measure  which  had  been  proposed. 


Early  Official  Life. 


75 


The  death  of  King  William  IV .,  which  occurred  June  20th,  1837, 
made  another  general  election  necessary;  and  Mr.  Gladstone 
turned  again  to  his  faithful  constituency  of  Newark.  But  his 
fame  had  spread.  During  the  four  years  that  ho  had  now  been 
in  Parliament,  he  had  most  completely  demonstrated  his  ability 


Princess  Victoria  in  Girlhood. 

and  the  Tories  of  Manchester  desired  to  show  their  appreciation 
of  it.  A  deputation  of  three  gentlemen  waited  upon  Mr.  Glad- 
stone, and  invited  him  to  stand  for  Manchester.  The  invitation 
was  perhaps  as  great  a  compliment  as  they  could  pay  him,  but 
unfortunately,  in  the  great  manufacturing  center,  the  defeat  of 


76  Early  Official  Life. 

the  Tory  candidates  was  almost  a  certainty.  To  use  the  express 
ive  language  of  a  newspaper  of  the  day,  "he  did  not  allow  them 
to  make  a  fool  of  him,  and  declined  the  invitation."  Of  course 
the  mere  question  of  victory  or  defeat  was  not  the  reason  on 
which  the  declination  was  based ;  Newark  was  the  first  borough 
for  which  he  had  stood  j  it  had  shown  its  appreciation  of  him  at 
the  second  election  at  which  he  had  been  a  candidate  j  and  to  de- 
sert them  now,  after  again  presenting  himself  to  them,  and  issu- 
ing an  address,  would  have  been  wholly  unjustifiable. 

But  the  Manchester  people  would  not  take  no  for  an  answer  j 
and  although  Mr.  Gladstone  had  flatly  refused  to  stand,  they 
placed  his  name  before  the  electors.  This  was  calculated  to  make 
trouble  at  Newark,  and  the  much  sought  member  issued  an  ad- 
dress to  his  constituents,  dated  July  22d,  1837.  In  this  address 
he  said  : 

"  My  attention  has  just  been  called  to  a  paragraph  in  the  Not- 
tingham and  Newark  Mercury  of  this  morning,  which  announ- 
ces, on  the  authority  of  some  person  unknown,  that  I  have  con- 
sented to  be  put  in  nomination  for  Manchester,  and  have  prom- 
ised, if  elected,  to  sit  in  Parliament  as  its  representative.  I  have 
to  inform  you  that  these  reports  are  wholly  without  foundation. 
I  was  honored  on  Wednesday  with  a  deputation  from  Man  Chester, 
empowered  to  request  that  I  would  become  a  candidate  for  the 
borough.  I  felt  the  honor,  but  I  answered  unequivocally,  and 
at  once,  that  I  must  absolutely  decline  the  invitation;  and  I  am 
much  at  a  loss  to  conceive  how  '  a  most  respectable  correspond- 
ent' could  have  cited  language  which  I  never  used,  from  a  letter 
which  I  never  wrote.  Lastly,  I  beg  to  state  in  terms  as  explicit 
as  I  can  command,  that  I  hold  myself  bound  in  honor  to  the 
electors  of  Newark,  that  I  adhere  in  every  particular  to  the  ten- 
or of  my  late  address,  and  that  I  place  my  humble  services  dur- 
ing the  ensuing  Parliament  entirely  and  unconditionally  attheir 
disposal," 

But  in  spite  of  this  explicit  and  emphatic  denial  that  he  had 
accepted  the  invitation,  his  name  was  still  used  at  Manchester. 
It  was  reported  that  he  had  promised  £500  toward  the  expenses 
of  the  election,  if  he  were  returned  j  and  his  name  was  actually 
presented  at  the  polls.  Although  the  candidate  himself  had  thus 
discountenanced  the  whole  affair,  the  Liberals  were  rather  taken 
aback  at  the  strength  of  the  Tory  vote.  The  Conservatives,  after 
the  election  was  over,  gave  a  dinner  to  their  unwilling  candidate, 


o 

z 
< 
I 
o 

a 

z 

ZD 
I 


O 


Early  Official  Life. 


77 


at  which  he  congratulated  them  on  the  energy  which  they  had 
shown,  and  predicted  that  their  strength  would  be  the  nucleus 
of  future  success. 

The  accession  of  the  young  Princess  Yictoria  to  the  throne  of 
Great  Britain,  upon  the  death  of  William  IV.,  was  an  event  of 
profound  import  to  the  whole  English-speaking  race  and  to  hu- 
manity at  large.  George  III.  had  left  seven  sons.  Of  these  the  eld- 


Duchess  of  Kent,  Mother  of  Queen  Victoria. 

est,  who  succeeded  him  as  George  IV.,  had  but  one  child,  the 
Princess  Charlotte,  who  died  in  1817.  The  second  son  died  with- 
out heirs;  William  IV.  had  no  children.  After  the  death  of  the 
Princess  Charlotte,  the  fourth  son,  Edward,  then  a  man  well  on 
toward  middle  age,  had  married  the  Dowager  Princess  of  Lein- 
engea,  whose  brother  had  been  the  husband  of  the  Princess 


78 


Early  Official  Life.  79 

Charlotte,  and  thus  looked  forward  to  being  consort  of  the 
Queen  of  England.  There  was  but  one  child  born  of  this  mar- 
riage, a  daughter,  who  was  intended  to  be  named  for  her  uncle 
and  grandfather,  and  for  Alexander  I.  of  Eussia.  But  the  Czar 
insisted  that  Alexandrina  must  be  the  first  name;  whereupon 
the  Prince  Regent  declared  that  G-eorgina  should  be  second  to 
no  other  name  in  the  list  of  those  borne  by  an  English  princess. 
The  baby  was  accordingly  christened  Alexandrina  Victoria,  the 
latter  being  her  mother's  name. 

The  Princess  Yictoria  was  born  May  24th,  1818 ;  and  eight 
months  later  her  father,  the  Duke  of  Kent,  died.  The  widowed 
mother  of  the  heiress  presumptive  to  the  throne  had  a  difficult 
task  to  perform  in  the  education  of  a  daughter  destined  for  such 
a  lofty  position ;  but  she  received  no  help  from  her  husband's 
family.  She  was  decidedly  unpopular  with  them  and  with  the 
people  generally;  and  she  did  not  make  much  effort  to  please 
the  family  into  which  she  had  married,  having  her  own  opinion 
of  their  morals.  It  is  to  her  credit  that  she  resolutely  Etifled 
all  those  natural  longings  for  her  native  land  and  the  society  of 
her  own  relatives,  and  educated  her  daughter  entirely  in  Eng- 
land, surrounded  by  English  influences. 

The  little'princess  grew  up  without  any  clear  idea  of  her  own 
importance,  although,  as  Mrs.  Oliphant  says,  in  her  Life  of  the 
Queen,  "wherever  the  little  maiden  went,  as  was  natural,  she  was 
the  centre  of  attraction  "  to  the  people  who  realized  her  high 
destiny.  She  was  twelve  years  old  before  she  was  allowed  to 
learn  that  she  was  next  in  the  line  of  succession.  The  import- 
ant communication  was  then  made  only  in  order  that  she  might 
understand  the  reason  for  imposing  more  tasks  upon  her  than 
were  required  of  her  cousins  of  less  importance  ;  and  the  strict 
discipline  which  had  always  been  used  was  in  no  way  relaxed. 
As  she  grew  older,  there  was  much,  complaint  from  the  King  that 
the  heir  to  the  throne  was  not  permitted  to  join  in  the  festivities 
of  the  court;  but  the  Duchess  wisely  judged  that  her  young 
daughter  was  better  away  from  such  influences  ;  for  it  has  been 
said  that  "  scandals  made  the  court  of  George  IY.  infamous,  and 
that  of  William  IY.  ridiculous." 

The  Princess  Yictoria  was  declared  of  age  upon  her  eighteenth 
birthday,  May  24th,  1837.  "When,  a  month  later,  her  uncle  died, 
she  became  Queen  of  England.  His  death  took  place  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  arid  at  five  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 


80  Early  Official  Life. 

bury  and  Lord  Conyngham  arrived  at  Kensington  Palace,  and  de- 
manded to  see  the  Princess  Victoria.  Her  lady-in-waiting  went 
to  arouse  her,  but  returned,  saying  that  she  was  in  such  a  sweet 
sleep  that  she  did  not  like  to  disturb  her. 

"  Madam,"  was  the  grave  reply,  "we  are  come  upon  business  of 
State,  and  even  the  slumbers  of  THE  QUEEN  must  give  way 
to  that." 

Thus  rebuked,  the  startled  attendant  awakened  sleeping  and 
unconscious  Majesty,  and  Victoria,  clad  only  in  a  night-dress, 
with  a  dressing-gown  hastily  thrown  over  it,  and  with  slip- 
pers on  her  bare  feet,  came  down  at  once. 

"Your  Majesty,"  began  Lord  Conyngham;  but  he  was  stopped 
by  a  simple  gesture  from  the  young  girl,  who  held  out  her  hand 
for  him  to  kiss.  He  knelt  and  kissed  it,  and  then  told  the  news. 

At  eleven  o'clock  that  day  the  first  Council  of  the  new  reign 
was  held.  The  death  of  the  King  was  officially  announced,  and 
the  two  archbishops,  the  two  royal  dukes,  the  Prime  Minister, 
and  the  Lord  Chancellor  were  sent  to  inform  the  Queen.  They 
returned  to  the  council-room,  the  doors  were  flung  open,  and  the 
new  sovereign  entered  alone.  Bowing  to  her  assembled  advis- 
ers, she  took  her  seat,  and  read  her  speech  clearly  and  audibly. 
The  only  sign  of  emotion  she  gave  was  when  her  two  uncles  did 
her  homage,  when  she  blushed  deeply.  Said  the  old  Duke  of 
Wellington,  frankly :  "  If  she  had  been  my  own  daughter  she 
could  not  have  done  better." 

We  have  turned  a  moment  aside  from  the  strict  subject  narra- 
tive of  this  volume  to  mention  some  interesting  features  of  this 
epoch,  because  the  ascending  of  the  throne  by  Victoria  was  per- 
haps of  more  importance  to  the  kingdom  than  any  other  similar 
change  had  ever  been.  The  accession  of  this  young  girl  seems 
to  have  made  possible  a  progress  toward  liberty  which  could 
scarcely  have  been  attained  under  the  rule  of  a  man ;  but  there 
is  something  higher  than  chivalry  to  be  considered.  Such  re- 
forms as  were  made  were  bound  to  come  at  some  time,  and  in 
some  way;  efforts  at  change  in  the  days  of  the  Stuarts  had 
brought  about  a  civil  war,  and  resulted  in  the  overthrow  of  the 
dynasty ;  efforts  at  change  in  the  days  of  Victoria  have  ended 
in  the  triumphs  of  emancipation  from  the  long  rule  by  mere 
right  of  birth.  If  a  different  sovereign  had  succeeded  to  the 
throne,  would  even  a  Gladstone  have  accomplished  as  much  for 
the  liberties  of  his  fellow-countrymen  ? 


Early  Official  Life.  81 

The  Conservatives  had  not  much  hope  of  a  change  in  the  min- 
istry. Lord  Melbourne  was  an  adviser  especially  fitted  to  please 
a  young  queen,  by  the  grace  of  his  bearing  and  the  suavity  of 
his  manners.  Nor  did  the  old  Duke  of  Wellington  credit  the 
new  sovereign  with  any  better  judgment  in  regard  to  men  than 
was  founded  upon  personal  advantages.  "The  Tories  will  never 
have  any  chance  with  a  young  woman  for  a  sovereign,"  he 
growled,  "for  I  have  no  small  talk,  and  Peel  has  no  manners." 
Fortunately  for  the  Conservatives,  they  were  not  obliged  to  wait 
until  the  Queen  became  old,  or  their  leaders  cultivated  the  miss- 
ing graces.  For  the  present,  indeed,  she  adopted  something  of 
Lord  Melbourne's  own  policy  ;  when  urged  to  undertake  much 
needed  reforms,  the  answer  which  this  indolent  and  debonair 
statesman  most  frequently  gave  was  :  "  Can't  you  let  it  alone?" 
The  young  queen  agreed  to  let  him  alone,  for  a  while  at  least,  in 
the  office  which  he  held  ;  being  so  little  skilled  in  state-craft  that 
she  did  not  know  whether  a  change  was  needed  or  not.  The 
country  approved  of  her  action  ;  and  the  new  Parliament  was 
Liberal  by  a  considerable  majority. 

The  most  important  question  which  the  new  Parliament  had 
to  consider  was  another  phase  of  the  Canadian  trouble,  or  rath- 
er, the  same  disturbances  increased.  There  had  always  been 
bad  feeling  in  Canada  between  the  old  French  settlers  and  the 
English  who  had  come  after  the  victory  of  Wolfe;  in  addition 
to  this,  was  the  feeling  that  the  Legislative  Council,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  were  nominated  by  the  Crown,  ought  to  be  elect- 
ive, like  the  Representative  Assembly.  From  these  germs  grew 
a  rebellion,  which  required  the  presence  of  troops  to  subdue  it. 
The  Government  proposed  to  suspend  the  constitution  of  both 
Upper  and  Lower  Canada,  which  were  then  separate  govern- 
ments, though  both  had  been  involved  in  the  Rebellion;  and  to 
send  out  a  Governor-General  and  High  Commissioner,  with  pow- 
er to  remodel  the  constitution  of  both  provinces  if  they  saw  fit. 
Mr.  Roebuck,  who  had  been  in  Parliament  from  the  time  of  the 
Reform  Bill  until  this  session,  was  the  paid  agent  of  the  Cana- 
dian governments,  and  he  demanded  the  right  to  plead  their 
cause  before  the  bar  of  both  houses.  Mr.  Gladstone  protested 
against  this  in  the  House  of  Commons,  but  without  avail.  The 
agent  was  heard  as  he  demanded.  Mr.  Hume's  motion  for  the  re- 
jection of  the  Government  bill  was  followed  by  a  lively  debate, 
in  which  the  member  for  Newark  took  no  small  part.  Reviewing 
6 


82  Early  Official  Life. 

the  entire  series  of  events  and  the  legislation  and  rulings  which 
had  led  to  the  present  complications,  he  pointed  out  the  mosl 
glaring  contradictions  in  the  correspondence  of  Lord  Gosford, 
the  Colonial  Secretary.  The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  en- 
deavored to  answer  this  speech,  but  in  the  opinion  of  Sir  Robert 
Peel  at  least,  the  attempt  was  a  miserable  failure.  Notwithstand- 
ing this  triumph  of  eloquence,  the  House  went  into  committee  by 
a  considerable  majority. 

At  this  same  session  there  was  another  agitation  of  the  slavery 
question,  on  which  Mr.  Gladstone,  as  before,  spoke  in  the  inter- 
ests of  the  slaveholders.  But  in  this  speech,  which  occupies 
thirty-three  columns  in  Hansard,  he  takes  a  bolder  stand  than 
any  that  he  has  yet  assumed,  and  reproaches  these  reformers, 
who  are  so  eager  for  complete  emancipation  that  they  cannot 
await  the  time  to  which  they  once  agreed,  with  the  encourage- 
ment which  they  give  to  slave  labor  in  consuming  the  cotton 
raised  in  the  United  States.  The  speech  also  disposed  of  many 
of  the  accusations  which  were  made  against  the  planters,  and 
proved  conclusively  that  the  condition  of  the  negro  was  con- 
stantly improving,  and  had  been  doing  so  since  the  passage  of 
the  Act  of  1833.  Although  this  speech  was  on  the  unpopular  side 
of  the  question,  it  greatly  enhanced  his  reputation  as  a  parlia- 
mentary orator.  This,  indeed,  rested  upon  foundations  which  luid 
been  laid  before  this.  It  was  his  eloquence  which  had  attracted 
Sir  Eobert  Peel's  attention  ;  and  in  1835,  the  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham and  Chandos  had  written  in  his  Memoirs,  regarding  a  point 
at  issue: 

"If  argument  could  have  done  it,  they  must  have  succeeded;  for 
among  the  speakers  on  their  side  were  Sir  Edward  Knatchbull, 
Sir  James  Graham,  Sir  Robert  Inglis,  Lord  Stanley,  Mr.  W.  E. 
Gladstone,  Sir  William  Follett,  Mr.  Praed,  and  Mr.  Goulburn." 

So  that  barely  two  years  after  his  entrance  on  the  scenes  at 
St.  Stephens  we  find  his  name  not  the  last  that  suggested  itself 
when  a  close  observer  of  political  events  counted  over  those  sup- 
porters of  the  Ministry  who  were  remarkable  for  their  elo- 
quence. 

Mr.  Gladstone  had  at  this  time  already  appeared  before  the 
public  as  an  author.  To  him  the  Edinburgh  Review  paid  this  trib- 
uie,  which  came  from  Macaulay's  pen  : 

"The  author  of  this  volume  is  a  young  man  of  unblemished 
character,  and  of  distinguished  parliamentary  talents,  the  rising 


Queen  Victoria  in  her  Coronation  Robes,  1837. 


84  Early  Official  Life. 

hope  of  those  stern  and  unbending  Tories  who  follow,  reluctant- 
ly and  mutinously,  a  leader  whose  experience  and  eloquence  are 
indispensable  to  them,  but  whose  cautious  temper  and  moderate 
opinions  they  abhor.  It  would  not  be  at  all  strange  if  Mr.  Glad- 
stone were  one  of  the  most  unpopular  men  in  England.  But  we 
believe  that  we  do  him  no  more  than  justice  when  we  say  that  his 
abilities  and  demeanor  have  obtained  for  him  the  respect  and 
good  will  of  all  parties.  His  first  appearance  in  the  character 
of  an  author  is  therefore  an  interesting  event;  and  it  is  natural 
that  the  gentle  wishes  of  the  public  should  go  with  him  to  his 
trial.  *  *  *  *  We  dissent  from  his  opinions,  but  we  admire  his 
talents;  we  respect  his  integrity  and  benevolence;  and  we  hope 
that  he  will  not  suffer  political  avocation  so  entirely  to  engross 
him  as  to  leave  him  no  leisure  for  literature  or  philosophy." 

The  question  of  National  Education  was  introduced  into  the 
House  in  June,  1839,  and  in  the  course  of  debate,  this  recently 
published  work  was  referred  to  in  such  terms  as  brought  the 
member  for  Newark  upon  his  feet,  in  defense  of  the  propositions 
which  he  had  there  enunciated,  and  which  the  opposition  wished 
to  apply  to  the  bill  under  consideration.  The  fundamental  princi- 
ple of  his  argument  had  been,  that  the  propagation  of  religious 
truth  is  one  of  the  principal  ends  of  government,  as  government. 
The  Ministry  wished  to  provide  free  schools  in  which  the  child- 
ren of  all  classes,  of  Dissenters,  Catholics,  and  Jews,  as  well  as 
of  the  adherents  of  the  Established  Church,  could  be  educated 
without  hearing  the  religion  of  their  parents  exposed  to  insult, 
or  directly  contradicted  by  the  teaching  of  the  schools.  This 
was  a  measure  especially  distasteful  to  the  Tories,  who  have  al- 
ways been  strenuous  supporters  of  the  Establishment ;  but  theirs 
was  the  unpopular  side  of  the  question  ;  and  Mr.  Gladstone,  in 
these  early  years,  seems  to  have  had  a  positive  genius  for  get- 
ting on  that  side. 

In  the  debate  on  the  war  with  China,  the  next  year,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone again  made  a  speech  which  was  favorably  commented  on  at 
the  time.  The  Ministry  was  supported  in  its  motion,  but  the 
majority  was  so  small  as  to  give  the  Conservatives  ground  for 
hope.  The  Liberal  Government  had  for  some  time  past  been 
steadily  losing  ground  in  the  public  opinion;  and  this  was 
naturally  reflected  by  the  House  of  Commons,  where  there  are 
usually  enough  independent  or  semi-independent  members  to  de- 
prive the  Ministry  of  tha^  unreasoning  and  unwavering  support 


LORD   ROSEBERY-MR.  GLADSTONE'S  SUCCESSOR   AS   PREMIER 


Marly  Official  Life.  85 

which  would  be  theirs,  if  all  their  adherents  at  the  time  of  tak- 
ing office  were  enthusiasts  for  the  party,  right  or  wrong.  The 
deficit  was  enormous  ;  their  financial  policy  had  been  a  complete 
failure;  they  had  alienated  Dissenters  by  their  leaning  toward 
the  Catholics,  and  Catholics  by  their  efforts  to  gain  the  Dissent- 
ing interest.  Toward  the  close  of  May,  1841,  Sir  Robert  Peel 
moved  a  vote  of  no  confidence  ;  it  was  carried  by  a  majority  of 
one.  Small  as  this  majority  was,  it  was  sufficient  to  show  how  the 
case  stood ;  there  was  but  one  thing  for  the  ministry  to  do,  unless 
they  resigned  immediately.  Parliament  was  at  once  dissolved  ; 
the  Government  had  appealed  to  the  country. 

The  appeal  was  answered,  but  not  in  the  way  which  the  Liber- 
als, hoping  against  hope,  had  looked  for.  The  gain  of  the  Tor- 
ies was  far  greater  than  their  most  sanguine  expectations  had 
pictured,  and  the  Ministry  resigned  immediately  after  the  open- 
ing of  the  new  session.  Sir  Robert  Peel  was  at  once  made  Prime 
Minister,  and  among  the  appointments  which  he  made  was  that 
of  Mr.  Gladstone  to  be  Yice-President  of  the  Board  of  Trade, 
and  Master  of  the  Mint.  He  shortly  after  succeeded  the  Earl  of 
Ripon  as  the  President  of  the  former  body,  so  that  the  fact  that 
he  held  the  subordinate  position  is  sometimes  lost  sight  of. 

In  following  the  course  of  his  parliamentary  success,  we  have 
lost  sight  of  his  private  life.  In  July,  1839,  Mr.  Gladstone  mar- 
ried Miss  Catherine  Glynne,  the  daughter  of  Sir  Stephen  Rich- 
ard Glynne,  of  Hawarden  Castle.,  Flintshire.  This  lady  has  been 
the  true  wife,  the  sharer  in  his  triumphs  and  the  consoler  in  de- 
feat; while  her  own  peculiar  tastes  have  led  her  to  avoid,  rath- 
er than  seek,  the  social  pre-eminence  which  the  wife  of  such 
a  man  might  have  won,  she  has  not  shrunk  from  the  glare 
of  publicity  when  it  was  necessary  to  her  husband's  success. 
In  the  latter  part  of  1886,  wishing  to  exonerate  him  from  the 
charge  which  his  enemies  were  making,  that  he  had  only  of  late 
years  shown  any  interest  in  Ireland  and  the  troubles  of  the 
Irish,  implying  that  his  alliance  with  Mr.  Parnell  was  a  mere 
trick  of  the  office-seeker,  she  sent  for  Mr.  Gill,  a  Nationalist, 
and  one  of  the  staff  of  United  Ireland,  that  her  testimony  might 
be  heard  in  his  behalf.  One  of  the  statements  which  she  then 
made  shows  his  feeling  with  regard  to  the  office  which  had  at 
this  time  been  allotted  to  him  by  his  chief: 

"  From  the  very  outset  of  his  political  career,  Mr.  Gladstone's 
most  ardent  wish,  his  strongest  ambition,  has  been  to  redress  the 


Early  Official  Lifts.  87 

grievances  of  Ireland,  and  undertake  the  settlement  of  the  Irish 
difficulty  upon  drastic  lines.  I  remember  very  well  the  day  upon 
which  he  received  his  first  cabinet  appointment  under  Sir  Robert 
Peel.  It  was  the  same  day  that  my  niece,  Lady  Frederick  Caven- 
dish, was  born.  Coming  home,  he  threw  himself  into  a  chair,  look- 
ing quite  depressed.  'What  did  you  get?'  I  asked.  'The 
Board  of  Trade/  he  said.  I  understood  his  disappointment.  He 
had  hoped  to  get  the  Irish  Secretaryship,  though  it  was  looked 
on  then  as  a  far  less  important  post." 

But  Mr.  Gladstone,  hampered  by  Tory  traditions,  and  bound 
to  the  Conservatives  as  he  was  by  accepting  office  under  their 
Government,  was  hardly  the  man  to  have  dealt  with  the  Irish 
question  at  that  time;  and  a  failure  then  might  have  made  men 
look  with  less  confidence  to  him  in  the  future,  when  he  had  cast 
off  those  shackles  for  the  freedom  to  be  found  among  the  more 
progressive  Liberals. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1840  occurred  the  marriage  of 
the  Queen.  She  had  chosen  as  a  husband,  Prince  Albert,  the 
second  son  of  the  Duke  of  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,  and  her  mother's 
nephew.  Unknown  to  himself  and  his  future  wife,  Prince  Al- 
bert had  been  carefully  educated  to  fill  this  very  position;  but 
the  match-making  was  so  skillfully  done  that  the  two  young 
people  came  together  quite  naturally,  with  genuine  attachment 
on  both  sides.  The  preceptor  of  the  Prince  was  Leopold  I.  of 
Belgium,  who,  as  husband  of  the  Princess  Charlotte,  had  care- 
fully prepared  himself  for  the  very  duties  which  were  now  to 
devolve  upon  his  brother's  son,  as  husband  of  his  sister's  daugh- 
ter. The  early  death  of  the  Princess  Charlotte  had  sent  him 
back  to  Germany,  there  to  be  once  more  simply  a  younger 
brother,  until  elected  to  the  throne  of  Belgium ;  and  there  is 
something  pathetic  in  the  thought  of  Victoria  and  Albert  taking 
up  the  thread  of  life  where  Charlotte  and  Leopold  had  dropped 
it.  Prince  Albert  brought  to  his  difficult  position  a  sincere  wish 
to  be  the  Queen's  best  counselor  for  the  good  of  her  people;  and 
although  he  was  not  at  first  popular,  and  it  was  long  before  he 
was  regarded  with  much  aifection  by  the  people,  he  fulfilled  this 
duty  nobly. 

The  session  of  Parliament  which  followed  Sir  Robert  Peel's 
appointment  was  destined  to  be  a  very  short  one;  and  there 
was  nothing  of  importance  to  mark  it  in  our  history.  There  was 
much  distress  in  the  country,  and  the  question  how  it  was  to  b« 


88  Early  Official  Life. 

relieved  was  a  serious  one.  Nor  were  the  people  patient  under 
the  existing  evils;  matters  were  too  far  gone  for  that;  tumult 
succeeded  tumult;  even  the  Queen  was  hooted  when  she  appear- 
ed at  a  London  theater.  The  Ministry  attempted  to  remedy  this 
by  a  modification  of  the  Corn  Laws,  and  a  bill  for  that  purpose 
was  brought  up  at  the  next  session. 

The  Corn  Laws  which  were  i  n  force  at  this  time  had  been  passed 
the  year  that  the  battle  of  Waterloo  was  fought.  It  was  hurried 
through  Parliament,  despite  the  most  emphatic  protests  from  the 
manufacturing  and  commercial  classes.  There  were  riots  in  Lon- 
don, there  were  riots  elsewhere ;  for  the  duty  was  prohibitive 
unless  home-grown  wheat  reached  the  price  of  eighty  shillings  a 
quarter,  and  it  was  far  below  that  price.  Time  and  space  do  not 
allow  the  discussion  of  the  principle  involved,  whether  it  is  wise 
to  tax  one  class  of  the  community  for  the  benefit  of  another,  or  to 
benefit  one  class  at  the  expense  of  all  others.  Certain  it  is,  that  the 
Corn  Laws  had  long  been  looked  upon  by  many  Englishmen  as 
the  chief  cause  of  the  distress  which  had  so  long  existed  ;  vari- 
ous modifications  of  them  had  been  made  at  different  times;  and 
Sir  Robert  Peel  now  proposed  a  plan,  which  was  a  modification 
of  one  which  had  been  broached  some  time  ago,  and  partly 
adopted.  This  was  a  sliding  scale  by  which  the  duty  was  highest 
when  wheat  was  cheapest,  and  gradually  diminishing  with  the 
rise  in  price,  until,  in  case  of  a  famine,  grain  would  be  admitted 
free  of  duty.  The  trouble  with  the  sliding  scale  afterward 
proved  to  be  that  other  countries,  from  which  a  supply  must  be 
drawn  in  case  of  a  short  crop,  were  not  always  ready  to  supply 
the  deficiency,  no  provision  being  made  for  a  market  which  did 
not  exist  regularly. 

The  people  of  Manchester  had  naturally  been  the  most  deter- 
mined advocates  of  free  trade  in  grain,  and  no  sooner  was  it  rep- 
resented in  Parliament  than  its  voice  was  heard,  demanding  the 
abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws.  But  the  experience  of  the  late  Lib- 
eral Ministry  had  shown  that  the  revenue  was  insufficient,  even 
with  taxes  as  they  were;  to  reduce  the  income  would  be  an  act 
of  folly.  Under  these  circumstances  the  Conservatives  came  in- 
to office,  expressly  to  uphold  the  Corn  Laws. 

Great  excitement  prevailed  throughout  the  country  when  this 
sliding  scale  was  introduced.  Its  wisdom  was  questioned  by  Lord 
John  Russell,  the  leader  of  the  Opposition,  in  one  of  the  ablest 
speeches  which  had  been  made  upon  the  subject.  Mr.  Gladstone 


Early  Official  Life.  89 

answered  him,  in  an  address  of  at  least  equal  ability  ;  and  the 
Government  was  supported  by  a  considerable  majority.  This  did 
not  evidence  the  feelings  of  the  people,  however;  for  about  this 
time  the  Premier,  who  had  brought  this  measure  forward,  had 
the  honor  of  being  the  chief  attraction  at  a  riot  in  Northamp- 
ton, where  he  was  burned  in  effigy.  And  other  towns  were  not 
far  behind  Northampton. 

The  Conservatives,  high  tariff  men  as  they  were,  became 
speedily  converted  to  the  principles  of  free  trade  by  that  stern 
teacher,  Necessity.  The  session  of  1842  dealt  mainly  with  the 
question  of  import  duty,  and  a  complete  revision  of  the  tariff 
was  the  fruit  of  their  labors.  This  was  no  light  task  to  Mr. 
Gladstone,  in  the  position  which  he  now  held;  for  the  record 
shows  that  he  was  on  his  feet  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  times 
during  this  session  ;  and  generally  spoke  in  connection  with  the 
provisions  of  the  Tariff  Bill. 

Almost  immediately  upon  the  opening  of  the  session  of  1843, 
Mr.  Gladstone  was  speaking  on  the  question  of  Free  Trade,  and 
advocating  the  abolition  of  the  Corn  Laws.  This,  he  admitted, 
could  not  be  done  at  once,  though  he  argued  that  the  success 
which  had  followed  the  reduction  of  duties  in  the  previous  year 
had  paved  the  way  for  it.  In  a  second  speech  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, which  "  bristled  with  facts,"  he  indeed  deprecated  the  im- 
mediate re-opening  of  the  question.  A  month  later,  the  Oppos- 
ition again  broached  the  subject,  but  the  Ministers  were  again 
sustained.  But  in  these  various  debates,  the  successive  divisions 
showed  a  steady  diminution  in  the  majorities  of  the  Government 
which  had  established  the  tariff  in  force. 

In  the  session  of  1844,  appears  the  first  important  measure  in 
which  Mr.  Gladstone  was  prime  mover.  Hitherto  he  had  been 
in  such  subordinate  positions  that  he  could  only  figure  as  a  sup- 
porter of  others.  It  is  true  that  in  the  previous  session,  acting 
as  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  he  had  brought  forward  a 
bill  providing  for  the  export  of  machinery  free  of  duty;  but 
this  was  merely  to  repeal  a  law  which  had  never  been  practicable, 
and  which  had,  therefore,  from  the  time  of  its  passage,  been  a  dead 
letter  on  the  statute  book.  The  present  bill,  which,  like  the  oth- 
er, was  suggested  by  the  duties  of  his  special  office,  was  design- 
ed for  the  regulation  of  the  railways,  with  special  provisions  re- 
garding passenger  trains.  This  was  the  Act  which  first  established 
what  is  known  as  the  "  Parliamentary  Train."  It  required  every 


90  Early  Official  Life. 

railway  to  start  at  least  one  train  each  day  from  each  end  of 
the  line,  which  was  to  stop  at  every  station,  traveling  at  a  rate 
of  not  less  than  twelve  miles  per  hour.  On  this  train,  passen- 
gers, each  with  fifty  pounds  of  luggage,  were  to  be  carried  at  a 
charge  for  each  not  exceeding  one  penny  per  mile.  Provision 
was  made  for  the  reduction  of  this  rate  in  the  case  of  children. 
It  is  a  regulation  for  which  the  English  traveling  public,  espec- 
ially the  poorer  classes,  have  reason  to  be  extremely  grateful, 
and  it  is  in  force  without  material  amendment  to-day. 

The  session  of  1845  brought  a  new  perplexity  to  the  young 
statesman.  P.eel  brought  forward  a  measure  which,  in  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's opinion,  was  inconsistent  with  the  views  which  had  been 
expressed  in  the  volume,  "On  the  relations  of  Church  and 
State,"  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made.  In  such  a  case, 
there  were  two  courses  open  to  the  subordinate  :  either  to  allow 
the  measure  to  pass  without  protest,  preserving  a  discreet  silence 
as  to  his  own  opinions,  or  to  resign  his  office,  that  he  may  be 
free  to  oppose  a  measure  which  he  does  not  approve.  This  was 
the  alternative  which  presented  itself  to  Mr.  Gladstone.  While 
the  first  course  does  not  appear  to  possess  that  straightforward- 
ness which  should  distinguish  any  man  in  an  office  of  trust,  it 
has  not  always  seemed  inconsistent  with  honor,  by  those  who 
have  been  called  upon  to  decide  the  question  for  themselves; 
the  ministers  of  the  Crown  have  sometimes  differed  about  such 
minor  points  of  policy,  but  considered  that  their  agreement  up- 
on so  many  more  subjects  entitled  them  still  to  retain  office. 

Mr.  Gladstone,  however,  was  in  a  somewhat  unusual  position; 
and  one  in  which  he  might  easily  have  thought  himself  excus- 
able for  retaining  his  post  in  the  Government.  Entering  upon 
public  life  as  an  uncompromising  Tory, the  admirer  of  Canning, 
the  protege  of  that  Duke  of  Newcastle  who  had  so  vehemently 
opposed  the  Whig  measures  of  Reform,  he  had  come  to  find  that 
many  of  the  views  which  he  at  first  held  would  not  endure  the 
test  of  mature  consideration.  The  Tory  party  had  been  advan- 
cing since  the  days  of  George  IV.  and  his  brother;  and  the 
brilliant  young  statesman,  who  had  been  characterized  as  the 
rising  hope  of  the  most  intolerant  of  the  party,  had  long  since 
outgrown  that  designation,  and  was  now  in  the  van  of  change, 
of  progress.  The  Conservatives  were  losing  their  hold  upon 
him,  though  they  did  not  know  it,  and  he  would  perhaps  have 
been  the  first  to  deny  such  a  charge.  But  leaving  out  of  con- 


Early  Official  Life.  91 

sideration  that  great  change  which  resulted  in  his  enrolment  in 
the  ranks  of  the  Liberals,  we  find  a  minor  one  in  his  opinions 
of  the  relations  of  Church  and  State.  He  no  longer  held  the 
views  which  he  had  publicly  avowed  seven  years  before  ;  he  had 
come  to  acknowledge  the  justice  of  Macaulay's  strictures  upon 
his  arguments;  but  to  announce  this  change,  at  this  juncture, 
would  have  the  appearance  of  seeking  to  modify  his  opinions  by 
his  chiefs,  in  order  to  retain  his  office.  He  accordingly  placed 
his  resignation  in  the  hands  of  the  Prime  Minister,  by  whom  it 
was  accepted.  Old  politicians  generally  looked  upon  this  action 
as  Quixotic;  it  would  have  been  so  regarded  by  some  if  there 
had  not  been  the  change  of  opinion  which  might  have  excused 
it  in  more  scrupulous  minds  ;  but  there  was  not  one  who  did  not 
secretly  respect  the  man  who  was  capable  of  making  such  a  sac- 
rifice for  the  sake  of  a  conscientiousness  few  could  understand. 

Tbe  question  which  Mr.  Gladstone  was  willing  to  support  as  a 
private  member  of  the  House  in  1845,  though  his  condemnation 
of  its  principle  in  1838  drove  him  from  office,  was  the  increase 
in  the  endowment  of  Maynooth  College.  This  institution,  loca- 
ted at  a  village  of  the  same  name  in  County  Kildare,  was  found- 
ed by  the  British  Government  in  1795,  when  the  destruction  of 
the  French  schools  by  the  Eevolutionists  had  deprived  the  Cath- 
olic Irish  of  the  privileges  of  education. for  their  priesthood.  It 
had  been  supported  by  annual  grants,  the  continuance  of  which 
svas  assured  by  the  act  of  Union  of  1800;  but  these  grants  had 
for  many  years  been  insufficient  for  the  purpose.  The  buildings 
had  fallen  into  ruin,  and  there  was  no  money  to  repair  them; 
the  apparatus  and  library  needed  renewing;  the  yearly  income 
was  not  sufficient  to  pay  the  professors  even  the  scantiest  stip- 
end. Under  the  circumstances,  the  Government  could  do  no 
less  than  make  its  gift  large  enough  to  serve  the  purpose  which 
it  intended,  or  to  withdraw  it  altogether.  The  increase  was  bit- 
terly opposed  by  a  considerable  party  in  Parliament,  but  the 
measure  was  carried  by  no  small  majority. 

The  retiring  minister  had  been  highly  complimented  by  Sir 
Robert  Peel  and  Lord  John  Russell,  the  leader  of  the  Opposi- 
tion, on  the  occasion  when  his  resignation  was  announced  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  The  change  in  the  Ministry  was  of  course 
no  victory  for  their  opponents,  for  Mr.  Gladstone  continued  to 
give  his  unqualified  support  to  the  Conservatives.  The  bill  for 
the  establishment  in  Ireland  of  what  a  rabid  Church  of  England 


92  Early  Official  Life. 

man  dubbed  "godless  colleges,"  a  name  which  was  speedily 
caught  up  by  O'Connell  and  his  Catholic  followers,  was  warmly 
supported  by  him;  and  to  that  measure,  as  well  as  to  the  one 
for  the  increase  of  the  Maynooth  endowment,  he  lent  all  the  aid 
of  his  now  renowned  eloquence. 

Peel  had  come  into  power  for  the  support  of  the  Corn  Laws ; 
it  had  been  necessary  to  modify  them  at  once,  if  they  were  to  be 
retained  at  all  ;  but  the  experience  of  five  years  under  the  form 
which  they  had  assumed  then  had  not  been  favorable  to  their 
perpetuation.  Dec.  4th,  1845,  the  Times  announced  that  the 
speech  from  the  Throne  would  recommend  the  abolition  of  these 
regulations;  the  statement  was  indignantly  denied  by  the  other 
journals,  but  was  admitted  by  them  to  be  true  after  several  days 
had  passed;  and  the  event  confirmed  it.  Many  of  Peel's  col- 
leagues were  as  much  opposed  to  the  repeal  of  these  laws  as  they 
had  ever  been ;  and  two  of  them,  when  at  a  meeting  of  the  Cab- 
binet  the  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury  stated  what  the  course  of 
the  Government  must  be,  declined  to  support  that  course.  The 
difficulties  by  which  he  was  surrounded  seemed  to  be  irremedi- 
able; and  on  the  5th  of  December  he  tendered  his  resignation  to 
the  Queen. 

Lord  John  Eussell  had  been  active  in  promoting  a  general  dis- 
trust of  the  wisdom  of  the  Corn  Laws,  though  his  action  in  this 
respect  was  stigmatized  as  a  mere  bid  for  office.  Whatever  it 
was,  it  secured  for  him  the  appointment  to  the  coveted  post,  for 
the  Queen  immediately  sent  for  him.  Peel  had  signified  his  de- 
sire to  co-operate  with  a  Liberal  Government  for  the  repeal  of 
the  obnoxious  laws,  and  this  was  a  most  welcome  assurance  to 
Lord  John.  But  a  new  obstacle  arose:  both  Lord  Palmcrston 
and  Lord  Grey  ought  to  be  included  in  such  a  Ministry ;  indeed, 
it  could  not  well  stand  without  them  ;  Lord  Palmerston  would 
not  accept  anything  but  the  Foreign  Office,  and  if  Lord  Palmer- 
ston was  made  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  Lord 
Grey  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it.  The  reason  for  this  per- 
versity was,  that  Lord  Palmerston  had  a  high  opinion  of  his 
ability  in  conducting  business  with  other  countries ;  Lord  Grey, 
upon  the  other  hand,  dreaded  his  "talent  of  keeping  perpetual- 
ly open  all  vital  questions  and  dangerous  controversies." 

Confronted  by  this  difficulty,  the  Liberal  leader  decided  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  form  a  cabinet  which  could  stand,  and 
so  informed  the  Queen,  who  at  once  sent  for  the  late  Premier 


Early  Official  Life.  93 

and  reinstated  him  in  office.  Of  the  two  ministers  who  had  re- 
signed, and  thus  compelled  Sir  Eobert  Peel  to  follow  their  ex- 
ample, the  Duke  of  Buccleugh  was  persuaded  to  remain  in  the 
ministry;  Lord  Stanley  retired,  and  his  post  of  Colonial  Secre- 
tary was  filled  by  Mr.  Gladstone. 

The  member  for  Newark  had  been  elected  because  he  was  the 
protege  of  the  duke — the  Duke  of  Newcastle's  nominee,  tot- 
withstanding  his  ingenious  evasion  on  the  occasion  of  his  first 
election.  But  this  nobleman  was  a  warm  advocate  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  Protection  ;  as  an  upholder  of  Free  Trade  Mr.  Glad- 
stone could  never  have  gained  his  support.  Accordingly,  on  the 
5th  of  January,  1846,  he  issued  an  address  to  his  constituents  in- 
forming them  of  the  necessity  for  his  retirement  as  their  repre- 
sentative, since  he  no  longer  held  the  principles  on  which  he  had 
been  elected.  Newark  was  too  thoroughly  in  favor  of  Protec- 
tion, and  perhaps  too  much  under  the  influence  of  the  duke,  to  re- 
tain as  her  member  the  young  man  who  had  won  such  speedy  rec- 
ognition; and  Mr.  Gladstone  was  left  without  a  seat  in  the 
House  of  Commons  during  the  session  in  which  the  Corn  Laws 
were  repealed. 

Nor  had  he  been  simply  the  follower  of  others  in  regard  to 
the  measure  to  which  he  thus  sacrificed  his  seat  in  the  House  ;  it 
was  no  secret  that  he  was  the  most  advanced  in  opinion  of  all 
the  members  of  the  Cabinet,  in  his  desire  for  Free  Trade.  In 
the  preceding  year,  he  had  published  a  pamphlet  entitled,  "  Re- 
marks Upon  Recent  Commercial  Legislation,"  which  would  have 
indicated  this  most  clearly,  had  nothing  else  been  said  by  him. 
But  he  has  been  justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the 
movement — perhaps  the  earliest. 

Though  the  subject  of  this  biography  was  not  entitled  to  speak 
upon  the  momentous  subject  for  which  he  had  thus  paved  the 
way,  a  brief  paragraph  respecting  the  Ministry  which  carried  it 
through  will  not  be  out  of  place.  The  motion  was  of  course  made 
by  the  Premier,  and  supported  by  him  in  a  powerful  speech.  "  He 
played  upon  the  House  of  Commons  as  on  an  old  fiddle,"  said 
Disraeli,  who  heard  him  from  the  Opposition  benches.  But  the 
marvelously  eloquent  speech  once  ended,  he  was  exposed  to 
such  a  torrent  of  personal  abuse  as  has  seldom  fallen  to  the  lot 
of  any  one  statesman  to  endure.  Calmly  he  acknowledged  that 
he  had  opposed  the  repeal,  as  he  had  opposed  other  measures 
which  his  Government  had  carried  through  ;  notably,  Catholic 


94  Early  Official  Life. 

Emancipation  and  Parliamentary  Reform;  but  he  denied 
that  these  changes  of  opinion  were  sudden,  or  produced  by  any- 
thing but  an  intense  desire  to  do  what  was  best  for  the  nation. 
The  measure  was  carried  by  a  triumphant  majority;  but  the  al- 
most simultaneous  defeat  of  the  Ministry  upon  the  question  of 
the  suppression  of  outrages  in  Ireland  caused  a  change  in  the 
make-up  of  the  Government. 

Sir  Robert  Peel  having  tendered  his  resignation,  Lord  John 
Russell  was  again  entrusted  with  the  task  of  forming  a  Ministry, 
and  this  time  was  more  successful  than  he  had  been  in  the  prev- 
ious year.  Sir  Robert  Peel  was  never  again  called  to  the  high 
office  in  which  he  had  accomplished  so  many  notable  things. 

A  general  election  took  place  in  the  fall  of  1847,  and  Mr.  Glad- 
stone stood  for  the  University  of  Oxford.  Sir  R.  H.  Inglis,  who 
had  sat  for  the  University  in  the  previous  session,  had  a  safe 
seat,  so  that  the  contest  lay  between  Mr.  Gladstone  and  a  Tory 
of  the  most  pronounced  type.  The  contest  was  one  of  the  bit- 
terest that  had  ever  been  waged  in  the  town,  and  men  came  for 
many  miles  to  exercise  their  right  of  suffrage  at  the  University. 
The  Convocation-house,  where  the  voting  took  place,  was  so 
densely  crowded  that  one  gentleman  was  carried  out  fainting. 
The  total  number  of  votes  polled  was  greater  than  at  any  pre- 
ceding election,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  was  returned  by  a  decisive 
majority. 

But  while  Oxford  had  thus  recognized  the  political  genius  of 
one  of  her  own  sons,  the  City  of  London  was  exercising  a  similar 
right,  and  electing  a  man  whose  name  is  perhaps  more  widely 
known  in  connection  with  money  than  that  of  any  other  family. 
The  return  of  Baron  Rothschild  was  the  peculiar  feature  of  this 
election  of  1847.  Up  to  this  time,  various  changes  had  been  made 
in  the  laws  relating  to  Jews,  but  the  member  of  Parliament  still 
swore  to  perform  his  duty  "  on  the  true  faith  of  a  Christian." 
Nor  was  he  the  only  elected  officer  who  so  vowed  ;  the  Lord 
Mayor,  the  Aldermen,  and  even  the  Councilmen  of  the  City  of 
London,  were  obliged  to  make  use  of  the  same  phrase;  and  of 
course  the  Jew  was  excluded  from  all  these  offices.  To  remedy 
this,  Lord  John  Russell  brought  forward  a  resolution  immediate- 
ly after  the  opening  of  Parliament,  affirming  that  Jews  were  eli- 
gible to  all  offices  and  functions  to  which  Roman  Catholics  were 
admitted.  The  reason  for  this  limitation  is  obvious  when  we 
recollect  that  the  State  and  Church  are  closely  connected  in  the 


Mr.  Gladstone  in  1846. 


95 


96  Marly  Official  Life. 

mother  country  ;  and  it  is  only  to  be  expected  that  Non-confor- 
mists, whatever  be  their  creed,  should  be  rigidly  excluded  from 
those  offices  which,  although  civil,  may  be  called  upon  for  some 
decision  or  action  in  connection  with  the  Church. 

The  resolution  which  Lord  John  proposed  was  bitterly  oppos- 
ed by  Sir  Robert  Inglis,  the  same  who  had  named  the  Queen's 
Colleges  in  Ireland  "  godless  colleges,'7  and  who  seems  to  have 
been,  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances,  a  supporter  of  the 
Establishment.  His  colleague,  Mr.  Gladstone,  on  the  other  hand, 
upheld  the  Liberal  opinions  of  the  Prime  Minister,  and  made 
one  of  his  powerful  speeches  in  favor  of  admitting  the  Jew  to 
Parliament.  He  admitted  that  he  had  opposed  the  previous  bills, 
which  had  given  privileges  to  this  class;  but  since  they  had 
passed,  he  saw  no  reason  why  this  should  be  denied.  The  con- 
stituencies were  mixed,  and  the  representation  ought  to  be  so ; 
if  the  Jew  were  permitted  a  voice  in  the  elections,  he  ought  to 
have  a  voice  in  Parliament.  It  had  been  urged  that  this  tended 
to  un-Christianize  Parliament ;  but  so  long  as  the  constituencies 
were  mainly  Christian,  he  replied,  the  House  of  Commons  would 
be  so. 

The  logic  of  the  speech  was  unanswerable,  but,  as  was  remark- 
ed at  the  time,  had  it  been  made  before  instead  of  after  the  elec- 
tion, the  speaker  would  not  have  been  returned  by  the  Univer- 
sity of  Oxford. 

The  country  had  long  been  in  a  state  that  was  far  from  tran- 
quil. The  successive  failures  of  the  crops  for  several  seasons  had 
produced  a  terrible  condition  among  the  poor;  we  are  only  for- 
getful of  the  state  of  England  at  this  period  because  the  people 
of  Ireland  were  so  much  more  to  be  pitied;  but  in  ordinary 
times,  when  there  was  no  darker  background  against  which  to 
place  it,  the  distress  in  England  in  1847-8  would  be  remembered 
with  dread,  even  in  other  countries.  As  before,  the  situation  in 
France  was  reflected  in  England  ;  after  eighteen  years  of  rule, 
the  Orleans  dynasty,  which  had  displaced  the  strictly  legitimate 
successor  of  Louis  XVI.,  was  in  turn  displaced  by  the  Second  Re- 
public, which  had  been  established  with  a  provisional  govern- 
ment. The  agitators  demanded  a  Charter  for  the  English  peo- 
ple; the  latter  phrase  meaning,  as  a  historian  of  our  own  time 
had  pointed  out,  not  the  whole  people,  for  the  heretofore  ruling 
classes  were  ignored  ;  but  the  wage-earners.  It  was  to  be  a  free 
country  for  the  lower  classes,  but  something  else  for  the  higher 


98 


Early  Official  Life. 


classes.  They  were  from  this  demand  termed  "Chartists."  There 
were,  as  is  generally  the  case  in  any  extensive  movement,  men 
who  were  really  law-abiding  citizens,  but  who  saw  the  existing 
evils,  and  hoped  to  reform  them.  There  were  also  many  who 
longed  for  a  collision  with  the  authorities;  enthusiasts,  perhaps, 
but  still  earnest  in  their  wish  to  achieve  better  things  for  them- 
selves and  their  fellows.  Excitement  ran  to  a  high  pitch  in  Lon- 
don when  it  was  learned  that  a  monster  procession  of  the  Chart- 
ists was  to  be  formed  and  to  march  to  the  doors  of  the  two 
houses  of  Parliament,  where  they  would  demand  the  rights  of 


Duke  of  Wellington  in  1850. 

the  English  people.  A  repetition  of  the  scenes  of  the  French 
Revolution  was  seriously  feared,  for  the  Chartists  made  no  se- 
cret of  the  fact  that  a  republican  form  of  government  was  one 
of  their  demands. 

The  Duke  of  Wellington  took  charge  of  the  preparations  and 
arrangements  for  defying  any  outbreak  against  the  public  peace. 
He  acted  with  extreme  caution,  so  that  though  there  were  sol- 
diers everywhere,  they  were  so  concealed  as  not  to  add  to  the 


Early  Official  Life.  99 

alarm,  or  allow  the  Chartists  any  advantage  from  knowing  their 
position  beforehand.  Nearly  two  hundred  thousand  Londoners,  in 
addition  to  the  regular  force  of  military  and  police,  enrolled 
themselves  as  special  constables.  Among  the  names  of  those  who 
were  sworn  in  for  this  duty,  we  find  Prince  Louis  Napoleon,  soon 
to  be  elected  President  of  the  French  Republic;  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  Lord  Derby,  and  Mr.  Gladstone. 

The  Chartist  meeting  was  held,  as  appointed  j  though  there 
were  not  nearly  so  many  present  as  had  been  predicted.  Their 
loaders  found  it  would  not  bo  prudent  to  attempt  the  procession, 
and  forbade  it.  The  petition,  however,  was  duly  appointed,  hav- 
ing, as  was  declared  by  Mr.  O'Connor,  fully  five  million  seven 
hundred  thousand  signatures.  It  was  duly  referred  to  a  com- 
mittee, who  set  to  work  to  examine  the  signatures,  with  the  as- 
sistance of  an  army  of  clerks,  As  a  result  of  their  labors,  it 
appeared  that  the  number  of  signatures  was  not  more  than  one- 
third  of  what  had  been  stated  ;  but  of  course  the  desires  of  near- 
ly two  millions  of  the  Queen's  subjects  deserved  to  be  treated 
with  respect.  An  analysis  of  the  nature  of  the  signatures,  how- 
ever, reassured  the  frightened  people.  Eightper  cent.of  the  names 
were  those  of  women ;  whole  sheets  were  signed  by  the  same 
hand  ;  many  signatures  were  repeated  again  and  again ;  but  what, 
made  the  whole  thing  ridiculous  was  the  fact  that  the  names  of 
the  Queen,  the  Prince  Consort,  the  stern  old  Duke  of  "Wellington, 
Sir  Robert  Peel,  Lord  John  Russell,  and  others  who  would  be 
equally  likely  to  sign  a  petition  for  the  institution  of  a  republi- 
can form  of  government  in  England,  appeared  side  by  side  with 
the  names  of  characters  in  the  popular  novels  of  the  day  and 
the  most  curious  nicknames  imaginable.  These  were  repeated 
again  and  again.  The  Chartist  leaders  had  not  tried  to  deceive 
by  this  childish  list  of  names  ;  they  had  simply  left  the  sheets 
where  any  one  who  desired  might  sign,  and  the  wags  had  had 
some  fun  out  of  it.  As  the  story  got  abroad,  the  English  people, 
including  those  classes  who  were  not  recognized  by  the  Chartists 
as  having  any  rights,  had  more  fun  out  of  itj  and  the  great 
Chartist  revolution  became  a  byword  and  laughing-stock  forever. 

It  is  well  for  a  country  when  a  grave  danger  thus  ends  in 
laughter,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  situation  in  Eng- 
land was  not  by  any  means  what  it  had  been  in  France  during 
the  last  years  of  Louis  XYI.'s  reign,  when  the  accumulated  evils 
of  centuries  were  revenged.  The  great  danger  in  England  was 


Early  Official  Life.  101 

in  Eeform  being  carried  forward  at  too  great  strides.  That  dan- 
ger, the  Conservative  party  may  be  said  to  have  averted.  But 
the  time  was  coming  when  a  member  of  that  party  could  leave 
it  for  the  Liberal,  as  a  direct  and  legitimate  result  of  the  princi- 
ples which  had  guided  him  in  the  former  organization,  but 
which,  carried  a  little  further,  landed  him  among  his  late  oppon- 
ents. The  transition  had  already  begun,  with  his  conversion  to 
Free  Trade,  his  advocacy  of  the  extension  of  privileges  to  the 
Jews,  his  change  of  opinion  with  regard  to  the  relations  of 
Church  and  State.  We  shall  see  how  gradually  it  became  patent 
to  Mr.  Gladstone's  own  mind  that  he  was  no  longer  a  member 
of  that  party  in  whose  opinions  his  earliest  youth  had  been 
trained. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

GLADSTONE  VS.  DISRAELI. 

Repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws — Disraeli  in  Parliament — His  Extravagant  Rhetoric- 
Pithy  Sayings  and  Merciless  Satire — Free  Traders  and  Protectionists — 
Division  Among  the  Tories — Gladstone's  Speech  on  the  Navigation  Laws 
— His  Growing  Liberalism — The  Condition  of  Canada — Colonial  Govern- 
ments— Remonstrance  of  France  and  Russia — Some  Account  of  Lord  Pal- 
merston — The  Celebrated  John  Bright — Mr.  Gladstone  Defends  His  Ac- 
tion— Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill — Mr.  Disraeli  in  the  Cabinet — Gladstone's 
Eulogy  on  the  Duke  of  Wellington — Overthrow  of  the  Ministry. 

'B  have  reserved  until  now  all  mention  of  a  man  who 
had  come  into  prominence  in  connection  with  the  de- 
bate on  the  Eepeal  of  the  Corn  Laws,  becauso  it  was  at 
the  time  of  which  we  are  now  writing  that  he  first  came  into  no- 
ticeable contact  with  Mr.  Gladstone.  The  rivalry  which  for 
many  years  existed  between  the  two  was  not  yet  fairly  begun; 
its  commencement,  as  we  shall  find,  was  delayed  some  years 
(from  the  year  1848 ;  but  the  march  of  events  will  leave  us  little 
^pace  for  retrospection  when  the  time  shall  come  for  recording 
the  incipiency  of  the  conflict  between  Gladstone  and  Disraeli. 

The  great  leader  of  the  Liberal  party  began  life  as  a  Tory; 
the  late  chief  of  the  Tory  party  for  so  many  years  began  life  as 
an  advanced  Liberal,  a  Eadical.  Disraeli's  sentiments,  however, 
at  the  outset  of  his  career,  seem  not  to  have  been  so  firmly  fix- 
ed, by  education  and  other  circumstances,  as  Gladstone's  were; 
as  a  well-known  critic  of  the  men  of  our  own  times  puts  it,  he 
was  rather  in  search  of  opinions  than  in  possession  of  them. 
However  this  may  have  been,  it  was  as  a  Liberal  candidate  that 
he  offered  himself  to  the  electors  of  Wycombe  in  the  same  year 
that  Gladstone  was  returned  frcrn  Newark;  he  was  recommend- 
ed by  such  apostles  of  Eadicalism  as  O'Connell  and  Hume;  but 
he  was  defeated.  Nothing  daunted  by  this  lack  of  success,  he 
presented  himself  again  and  again  ;  but  it  was  not  until  the 
fourth  time  that,  owing  to  the  influence  of  Mr.  Wyndham  Lewis, 
who  foresaw  something  of  the  genius  for  government  which  the 
102 


Queen  Victoria  at  Her  Accession  to  the  Throne, 


103 


104 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli. 


young  man  was  to  develop,  he  was  at  last  entitled  to  speak  in 
the  House  of  Commons.  It  was  the  first  Parliament  after  the 
accession  of  Queen  Victoria  in  which  he  gained  the  long-coveted 
seat. 

The  maiden  speech  of  Gladstone,  as  we  have  already  seen,  was 
almost  forced  upon  him,  by  the  direct  attacks  which  were  made  up- 
on his  father  and  his  agents.  It  was  marked  by  modesty,  by  dig- 
nity, and  by  earnestness.  He  was  hardly  known  at  the  time  j  his 
associates  saw  in  him  only  a  youth  whom  influence  had  sent  to 


Disraeli  in  18SO. 

occupy  a  seat,  the  son  of  a  man  prominent  in  commercial  circles, 
and  well  thought  of  for  his  efforts  to  secure  local  improvements; 
ho  was  an  essentially  middle-class  man,  and  there  was  no  indica- 
tion that  ho  was  possessed  of  more  than  mediocre  powers.  But 
the  son  of  the  author  of  so  many  excellent  essays  was  of  a  dif- 
ferent stamp  ;  he  was  already  well  known  by  the  name  which  he 
bad  won  for  himself  in  literature ;  "  Vivian  Grey"  had  been 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli.  105 

published  nine  years  before,  and  had  been  followed  by  other 
works,  but  still  Disraeli  was  looked  upon  with  some  contempt; 
nor  were  his  writings  at  that  day  met  with  the  respect  which  they 
have  since  then  commanded.  He  was  regarded  as  an  eccentric 
adventurer,  who  might  have  been  dangerous  if  his  affectations 
had  not  been  so  ridiculous.  When,  therefore,  he  rose  to  his  feet 
for  the  first  time  in  the  House  of  Commons,  the  members  of  that 
august  body  prepared  themselves  for  enjoyment.  He  was  dress- 
ed "in  a  bottle-green  frock-coat  and  a  waistcoat  of  white,  of  the 
Dick  Swiveller  pattern,  the  front  of  which  exhibited  a  network 
of  glittering  chains  ;  large  fancy-pattern  pantaloons,  and  a  black 
tie  above  which  no  shirt-collar  was  visible,  completed  the  out- 
ward man.  A  countenance  lividly  pale,  set  out  by  a  pair  of  in- 
tensely black  eyes,  and  a  broad  but  not  very  high  forehead, 
overhung  by  clustering  ringlets  of  coal-black  hair,  which,  comb- 
ed away  from  the  right  temple,  fell  in  bunches  of  small  well-oil- 
ed ringlets  over  the  left  cheek."  His  style  was  always  extrava- 
gent,  his  rhetoric  constantly  degenerated  into  vulgarity;  an 
American  critic  has  said  of  him  that  he  was  essentially  barbaric 
in  his  actions  and  feelings  ;  at  this  date,  then,  when  we  natural- 
ly expect  to  find  all  the  faults  of  the  parliamentarian  most 
strongly  marked,  because  contact  with  others  has  not  toned 
them  down  to  that  smooth  level  which  is  the  meeting-place  of 
great  genius  and  mediocrity,  he  did  not  disappoint  the  House. 
His  manner  was  intensely  theatric,  his  gestures  wild  and  extrav- 
agant. There  was  nothing  in  the  speech  itself  which  would,  if  an- 
other had  delivered  it,  have  excited  the  risibilities  of  the  House; 
but  the  reputation,  the  appearance,  the  manner  of  the  speaker, 
all  combined  against  him ;  there  was  no  serious  attention  paid  to 
what  he  said;  he  was  constantly  interrupted  by  laughter  and  de- 
rision ;  and  at  last  he  sat  down  with  that  threat  which  has  be- 
come historic,  as  the  expression  of  a  self-confidence  which  is  too 
seldom  justified  :  "  I  have  begun,  several  times,  many  things,  ana 
I  have  often  succeeded  at  last;  ay,  sir,  and  though  I  tjit  down 
now,  the  time  will  come  when  you  will  hear  me." 

Eecorded  as  it  is  in  the  newspapers  of  the  time,  and  in  that 
compilation  of  speeches  delivered  in  Parliament  which  is  re- 
garded as  the  highest  authority,  it  cannot  be  said  that  this  pre- 
diction was  manufactured  by  some  admirer  long  after  it  had 
been  fulfilled.  It  was  the  indomitable  resolution  of  the  man  as- 
serting itself;  a  perseverance  which  had  seated  him  in  Parliament 


106 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli. 


after  three  successive  and  decisive  defeats,  and  which  accomplished 
the  fulfillment  of  what  had  been  spoken.  The  time  did  come 
when  the  House  listened  to  him. 

Though  Mr.  Disraeli's  first  candidature  had  been  as  a  Liberal, 
he  had  stood  at  the  election  of  1837  as  a  Conservative;  and  by 
1846  he  had  become  identified  with  the  extreme  wing  of  that 
party.  The  action  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  his  illustrious  young 
colleague  in  espousing  the  cause  of  Free  Trade  was  not  followed  by 
all  the  members  of  the  party ;  it  rather  marked  a  division  among 

the  Conservatives ;  and 
it  was  this  division  of 
strength  which  brought 
about  the  fall  of  the  Min- 
istry, immediately  after 
the  success  which  was 
achieved  by  the  Repeal 
Act.  Disraeli  had  persist- 
ed in  his  efforts  to  gain 
the  ear  of  the  House  and 
had  at  last  succeeded.  He 
was  second  only  to  Lord 
George  Bentinck  in  the 
leadership  of  the  men  who 
still  clung  to  Protection; 
and  his  speeches  in  the 
House,  during  the  debate 
on  that  famous  measure 
which  had  made  the  name 
of  Peel  best  known,  were 
received  with  an  attention 
which  was  in  itself  an 
eloquent  commentary  on  the  progress  which  the  man  had  made. 
Terse  epigrams  and  merciless  satire  marked  his  speeches  through- 
out— words  which  could  be  caught  up  and  repeated,  and  again  ap- 
plied to  the  men  and  measures  which  he  thus  characterized.  This 
indeed  is  the  main  power  which  Disraeli's  speeches  possessed — the 
coining  of  phrases  which  were  readily  remembered,  as  the  expres- 
sion, "Sublime  mediocrity/'  which  he  then  applied,  not  without 
Borne  justice,  to  the  Prime  Minister. 

Though  the  Free  Traders  carried  the  day  against  the  Protec- 
tionists, it  was  a  long  time  before  the  two  wings  of  the  party 


Lord  Odo  Rmsdl. 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli.  107 

would  re-unite  upon  any  question  of  public  policy  long  enough 
to  overthrow  the  Liberal  Ministry.  The  more  moderate  Conserv- 
atives still  held  to  Peel  as  their  leader,  while  the  extreme  Tories 
looked  to  Bentinck  and  Disraeli.  There  was  a  time  coming,  and 
that  not  far  off,  when  the  former  party  would  find  themselves 
without  their  leader ;  but  that  came  as  a  surprise  to  friend  and 
foe  ;  and  when  it  did  come,  there  was  at  least  one  of  his  adher- 
ents, and  that  one  the  man  whose  life  we  are  now  following,  who 
did  not  unite  with  the  Protectionists,  but  who,  in  the  increased 
political  independence  thus  gained,  separated  himself  still  more 
widely  from  the  Tory  party. 

This  division  of  the  Tories  prevented  the  return  of  the  party 
to  power  at  this  juncture,  when  the  Conservatives  were  natural- 
ly the  power  to  which  the  people  looked  in  times  of  agitation 
from  without;  and  the  Whig  Government  was  steadily  growing 
unpopular.  The  one  thing  in  which  the  Eussell  Ministry  had 
failed,  was  in  reducing  the  deficit  which  then  existed.  This 
amounted  to  more  than  two  millions  of  pounds,  and  the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer  announced,  that,  in  his  judgment,  the 
Income  Tax,  which  would  expire  that  year,  would  have  to  be  re- 
newed for  five  years  longer,  and  even  increased.  This  had  been 
imposed  while  Peel  was  in  office,  and  the  ex-premier  now  de- 
fended, from  the  Opposition  benches,  the  course  proposed  by  the 
Ministry.  Disraeli  also  was  in  opposition,  not  only  to  the  Min- 
istry, but  to  the  leaders  of  the  Conservatives;  representing,  as 
the  extreme  Tories  did,  the  landed  interest,  he  was  the  natural  op- 
ponent of  a  measure  which  bore  most  heavily  upon  the  wealthy 
men  of  leisure.  His  speech  was  a  most  characteristic  one,  spark- 
ing with  epigram.  The  blue-book  of  the  Import  Duties  Commit- 
tee he  dubbed  "the  greatest  work  of  the  imagination  which  the 
nineteenth  century  has  produced ;"  and  having  thus  character- 
ized the  authority  upon  which  many  of  the  statements  of  the 
Ministry  and  their  friends  in  opposition  were  based,  he  declared 
himself  a  "  Free  Trader,  but  not  a  free-booter  of  the  Manchester 
school,"  and  argued  at  length  to  show  that  Peel's  policy  had  not 
been  the  success  which  he  had  just  claimed  it  was. 

The  House  had  listened  with  lively  interest  to  this  speech,  as  it 
always  had  done  to  Disraeli  since  he  had  convinced  them  that 
he  was  not  to  be  laughed  down.  He  was  answered  by  Gladstone, 
in  a  speech  which  was  no  less  characteristic  of  him  than  the  an- 
swer to  Peel  had  been  of  the  Tory.  The  Conservative  took  but 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli.  109 

liUie  note  of  the  personalities  of  the  speech,  which  had  been  the 
most  brilliant  part  of  it.  He  answered  them  by  dismissing  them 
as  unworthy  serious  consideration,  in  the  discussion  of  a  meas- 
ure affecting  the  welfare  of  the  nation.  Bringing  from  his  marv- 
elous memory  fact  after  fact  to  support  the  cause  of  his  chief,  he 
clinched  each  argument  with  statistics  which  made  it  unanswer- 
able ;  and  with  a  wealth  of  language  which,  in  the  mouth  of  any 
other  man,  would  but  have  seemed  the  weakness  of  redundancy, 
he  made  every  word  tell  against  the  arguments  which  he  was 
opposing.  Finally,  with  a  dignified  appeal  to  the  now  thor- 
oughly serious  House,  he  sat  down.  The  measure  was  carried. 

This  session  was  also  marked  by  the  delivery  of  an  important 
speech  on  the  Navigation  Laws  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  in  which  he 
opposed  the  sweeping  changes  advocated  by  the  Government; 
the  question  was  so  delayed,  however,  that  the  final  considera- 
tion had  to  be  postponed  until  the  next  session  of  Parliament. 
But  leaving  out  of  consideration  the  minor  speeches  upon  such 
subjects  of  transitory  importance  as  the  cession  of  Vancouver's 
Island  to  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  and  the  Sugar  Duties  Bill, 
the  most  noteworthy  speech  of  the  session  which  fell  from  his 
lips  was  that  upon  the  measure  designed  to  legalize  diplomatic 
relations  with  the  Vatican. 

Since  the  time  when  Henry  VIII.  had  openly  defied  the  pow- 
er of  the  Pope  and  announced  himself  as  the  Head  of  the  Eng- 
lish Church,  the  English  Government  had  held  no  formal  rela- 
tions with  the  Court  of  Eome.  Whatever  communications  might 
be  absolutely  necessary  were  made  in  an  underhand  and  round- 
about manner  which  was  hardly  consistent  with  the  dignity  of 
either  court.  The  bill  which  was  now  brought  forward  was 
most  severely  condemned  by  many  statesmen  of  the  day  as 
likely  to  offend  both  parties  by  the  moderation  of  its  terms;  the 
Catholics  by  the  concessions  which  were  demanded  from  the 
apostolic  see,  and  the  Protestants  by  the  concessions  which  were 
made  to  the  same  power.  Mr.  Gladstone  supported  the  bill, 
though  he  admitted  that  there  were  several  reasons  why  it  was 
painful  for  him  to  do  so.  The  question  had  been  brought  to  their 
consideration,  he  said,  at  an  unfortunate  time  ;  for  such  was  the 
state  of  affairs  in  Italy  that  it  might  prove  to  have  been  unneces- 
sary to  legislate  upon  this  question.  But  the  enactment  of  the  law 
establishing  the  Irish  Colleges  had  made  it  absolutely  necessary 
to  conduct  negotiations  with  the  Pope.  As  long  as  the  actual 


110  Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli. 

title  of  the  sovereign  of  England  was  assailed  by  the  Pope,  it 
was  right  and  proper  that  all  communication  with  the  Vatican 
should  be  forbidden;  but  for  more  than  a  century  the  Papal 
authority  had  ceased  to  stand  in  this  inimical  relation;  and 
there  was  no  real  reason  why  diplomatic  channels  of  communi- 
cation should  not  be  reopened  j  and  he  urged  upon  the  House 
the  necessity  of  promoting  the  peace  of  Ireland  by  every  pos- 
sible means,  and  showed  that  to  preserve  this  it  was  necessary 
to  have  free  communication  with  the  power  so  highly  regarded 
by  the  Irish  as  a  religious  authority. 

We  have  stated  this  argument  at  soma  length,  as  showing  to 
what  an  advanced  position  Mr.  Gladstone  had  come,  since  the 
publication  of  his  work  on  Church  and  State.  The  whole  peri- 
od from  1840  to  1855,  may  justly  be  regarded  as  a  period  of 
transition  ;  he  was  outgrowing  the  traditions  of  his  youth,  and 
was  becoming  fixed  in  those  opinions  of  which  he  afterward  be- 
came one  of  the  most  eminent  expounders  and  upholders,  if  not, 
indeed,  the  first  in  rank. 

This  increasing  liberalism  in  sentiment  was  still  further  evi- 
denced by  his  speeches  during  the  same  session  upon  a  measure 
which  Lord  John  Russell  brought  forward,  relative  to  the  oaths 
which  the  members  of  Parliament  were  obliged  to  take;  and  in 
a  subsequent  debate  upon  the  subject  of  Church  Rates. 

In  the  session  of  1849,  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade 
again  brought  forward  the  question  of  modifying  the  Navigation 
Laws;  and  the  moderate  changes  which  were  proposed  by  the 
Minister  were  supported  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  with  certain  sugges- 
tions for  change  which  were  resisted  by  the  Ministry,  though 
the  bill  was  finally  modified  into  a  sort  of  a  compromise  between 
the  original  measure  and  the  proposed  amendments.  At  a  later 
stage  of  the  proceedings,  Mr.  Disraeli  spoke,  with  the  usual 
amount  of  personal  invective.  It  was  now  directed  against  Mr. 
Gladstone,  who  had  yielded  in  some  degree  to  the  Board  of 
Trade,  to  prevent  the  total  lack  of  action  upon  this  important 
measure.  Mr.  Gladstone's  reply  to  these  strictures  closed  with 
these  words :  u  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  to  bear  his  sarcasm,  good- 
humored  and  brilliant  as  it  is,  while  I  can  appeal  to  his  judg- 
ment as  to  whether  the  step  which  I  have  taken  was  unbecoming 
in  one  who  conscientiously  differs  from  him  on  the  freedom  of 
trade,  and  endeavors  to  realize  it;  because,  so  far  from  its  being 
the  cause  of  the  distress  of  the  country,  it  has  been,  under  the 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli.  Ill 

mercy  of  God,  the  most  signal  and  effectual  means  of  mitigating 
this  distress,  and  accelerating  the  dawn  of  the  day  of  returning 
prosperity."  The  tone  of  this  reply  to  a  bitter  personal  attack, 
shows  most  conclusively  what  has  been  frequently  claimed  for 
Gladstone,  that  he  has  no  trace  of  personal  bitterness  in  his  na- 
ture; that  his  opposition  of  measures  does  not  imply  his  enmity 
toward  the  men  who  support  them;  and  that  he  frequently  felt 
the  most  sincere  admiration  for  the  men  whom  he  most  persist- 
ently fought. 

The  condition  of  Canada  again  came  up  for  consideration  in 
this  session,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  spoke  several  times,  both  in  the 
House  and  in  committee,  supporting  the  right  of  Parliament  to 
interfere  in  all  imperial  concerns.  His  direct  opponent  in  this 
question  was  Mr.  Roebuck,  who  had  before  acted  as  agent  for 
the  Canadians,  though  he  was  now  a  member  of  Parliament. 
In  the  opinion  of  Lord  John  Russell,  the  course  which  Mr. 
Gladstone  recommended  would  tend  to  aggravate  the  troubles 
in  Canada,  where  the  public  peace  had  already  been  violated  by 
many  riots,  some  of  them  widespread.  The  question  could  not 
be  decided  in  that  session,  but  frequently  came  up  for  discus- 
sion, the  House  being  desirous  that  the  matter  might  be  in 
such  shape  as  to  show  the  various  colonies,  particularly  those 
most  interested,  what  was  likely  to  be  the  course  pursued;  that 
the  colonial  assemblies  might  be  able  to  make  such  suggestions 
as  would  improve  the  course  to  be  taken.  Mr.  Gladstone's  ex- 
perience in  the  Colonial  Office  of  course  made  his  statements  of 
value;  and  although  no  direct  action  was  taken,  he  seems  to 
have  had  no  small  part  in  modifying  the  original  opinions  of 
many  member0  on  this  subject.  He  was  already  a  power  in  the 
House. 

During  this  session,  there  was  brought  forwai'd  that  bill  which 
appears  to  possess  perennial  interest  for  a  small,  though  con- 
stantly increasing,  class  of  British  legislators — of  whom  the 
Prince  of  Wales  is  now  the  head — intended  to  legalize  marriage 
with  a  deceased  wife's  sister.  We  find  Mr.  Gladstone  strongly 
opposing  the  bill,  on  theological,  social  and  moral  grounds.  The 
bill  was,  as  usual,  supported  only  by  a  minority. 

The  session  of  1850  opened  with  a  discussion  of  the  Poor 
Laws  of  the  kingdom  ;  a  most  important  subject,  in  view  of  the 
distress  so  generally  prevailing.  In  this  debate  Mr.  Gladstone 
appears  as  the  supporter  of  Mr.  Disraeli,  who  made  the  motion 


112 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli.  113 

for  the  consideration  of  these  regulations.  The  Free-Trader, 
however,  expressly  reserved  the  right  to  withdraw  his  support 
if  the  Protectionist  ventured  to  introduce  any  peculiar  doctrine 
of  his  section  of  the  party  into  the  question  j  but  the  motion 
was  lost  by  a  small  majority.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  in  this  case 
Sir  Eobert  Peel  and  Mr.  Gladstone  took  opposite  sides  of  the 
question. 

The  subject  of  Colonial  Governments  was  also  one  which  oc- 
cupied the  attention  of  British  legislators  at  this  time ;  and  when 
the  Prime  Minister  unfolded  the  policy  of  the  Government,  we 
find  Mr.  Gladstone  the  earnest  supporter  of  those  amendments 
which  were  calculated  to  emancipate  the  colonies  from  the  rule 
of  the  central  power  in  as  many  respects  as  were  consistent  with 
their  dependence  finally  upon  the  mother  country.  When  he  saw 
that  this  view  of  the  question  would  not  be  adopted  by  a  majority 
of  the  members,  he  endeavored  to  delay  the  final  decision  until  the 
Colonial  Governments  should  have  an  opportunity  of  express- 
ing themselves  upon  a  question  in  which  they  were  so  deeply 
interested  ;  but  although  his  arguments  were  based  upon  privi- 
leges that  had  been  given  to  some  colonies,  and  should  not 
therefore,  be  withheld  from  any,  his  motion  to  delay  was  lost  by 
a  very  considerable  majority.  It  is  curious  to  note  that  among 
those  who  then  supported  him,  as  appears  from  the  list  of  those 
who,  in  division,  voted  for  his  motion,  were  some  of  the  men 
who  have  since  most  persistently  opposed  him,  Disraeli  amon^ 
the  number. 

We  again  find  the  old  question  of  the  slave-trade  revived  in 
this  session,  in  the  form  of  a  debate  upon  restoring  the  duties 
upon  sugar  grown  by  slave  labor.  England  had  for  some  time 
been  endeavoring  to  put  an  end  to  the  slave  trade,  having  en- 
tered into  treaties  with  other  countries  to  maintain  armed  ves- 
sels along  the  coast  of  Africa  for  that  purpose  j  but  this  had 
been  pronounced  futile  by  no  less  an  authority  than  Sir  Fowell 
Buxton,  who  had  been  so  prominent  in  the  measures  for  aboli- 
tion. Though  Mr.  Gladstone  conceded  the  necessity  of  Pro- 
tection in  this  instance,  his  support  did  not  bring  success  to  the 
motion. 

Passing  over  the  debate  on  the  inquiry  into  the  condition  of 
the  English  Universities,  in  which  Mr.  Gladstone  opposed  the 
issuing  of  a  Royal  Commission,  we  next  hear  of  him  in  connec- 
tion with  the  troubles  with  Greece.  Perhaps  there  never  was  more 

8 


114  Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli. 

smoke  with  less  fire  than  in  these  same  Greek  troubles.  Vari- 
ous outrages  had  been  committed  by  Greeks  against  British 
citizens;  but  they  were  of  such  a  nature  as  might  have  been 
readily  repaired  if  the  Greek  Government  had  been  a  little  less 
dilatory  and  the  British  a  little  less  impatient.  Many  of  the 
claims  were  absurdly  exaggerated  ;  one  of  the  complainants 
was  Don  Pacifico,  a  Jew  of  Portuguese  descent,  a  native  of  Gib- 
raltar, a  subject  of  Great  Britain,  and  a  resident  of  Athens;  the 
house  of  this  cosmopolitan  gentleman  had  been  destroyed  by  an 
angry  mob,  and  he  wanted  compensation  for  it  and  its  contents  ; 
the  justice  of  his  claim  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  he 
rated  his  pillow-cases  as  worth  ten  pounds  each.  Others  there 
were  whose  claims  possessed  more  moderation,  but  the  Greek 
Government  seems,  at  this  lapse  of  time,  entirely  justifiable  in 
its  delays.  Lord  Palmerstcn,  however,  who  was  at  the  head  of 
the  Foreign  Office,  thought  that  the  efforts  of  England  to  assist 
Greece  in  maintaining  her  independence,  deserved  some  consid- 
eration ;  and  had,  besides,  taken  up  the  idea  that  the  represen- 
tives  of  other  powers  at  the  Court  of  Athens  were  constantly 
caballing  against  England.  An  English  fleet  was  sent  to  the 
Pirreus,  and  blockaded  that  port,  seizing  all  the  vessels  of  the 
Greek  Government  and  of  private  merchants  which  it  found 
there. 

France  and  Russia  remonstrated  at  this  high-handed  pro- 
ceeding; the  Foreign  Secretary,  who  was  always  inclined  to  re- 
sent interference  with  his  independence  of  action,  replied,  with 
due  formality,  that  it  was  a  matter  wholly  between  Great  Brit- 
ain and  Greece,  and  that  other  Powers  had  nothing  to  do  with 
it.  This  somewhat  brusque  reply  did  not  carry  with  it  the 
weight  which  was  intended,  and  both  France  and  Russia  persist- 
ed until  the  matter  was  made  a  question  for  international  arbi- 
tration, and  finally  settled  in  that  way. 

But  while  it  was  still  undecided,  the  debate  in  both  Houses 
of  Parliament  was  keen,  and  in  some  respects  entitled  to  rank 
among  the  most  remarkable  which  have  ever  been  heard  there; 
certainly,  there  was  never  such  a  flood  of  eloquence  poured 
forth  about  such  trivial  questions  before  or  since.  The  course 
of  Lord  Palmerston  was  regarded  as  a  very  high-handed  pro- 
ceeding, and  a  vote  of  censure  was  proposed  in  the  House  of 
Lords;  to  offset  this,  Mr.  Roebuck,  an  independent  member  of 
the  House,  was  induced  to  bring  forward  a  motion  affirming 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli.  115 

that  tho  policy  of  the  Government  was  approved  by  the 
Commons.  This  was  a  cunning  device  to  entrap  the  mem- 
bers \v!io  did  not  wholly  approve  of  the  action  of  Palmerston, 
but  were  unwilling  to  condemn  the  general  policy  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, into  an  expression  favorable  to  the  particular  action 
then  under  consideration.  Lord  Palmerston  had  supported  his 
course  in  one  of  the  most  brilliant  speeches  ever  heard  in  the 
House  of  Lords.  All  the  arguments  based  upon  the  triviality  of 
the  claims  or  the  character  and  station  of  the  men  who  desired 
redress,  ho  answered  with  the  unanswerable  one  that  there  was 
no  man  entitled  to  protection  at  the  hands  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment whom  that  Government  would  not  protect,  be  he  ever 
so  lowly  or  even  ridiculous.  Ridicule  and  laughter  were  out  of 
place  when  the  smallest  right  of  a  British  subject,  violated  by  a 
foreign  power,  was  to  be  redressed.  It  was  in  this  famous  speech 
thut  he  used  the  comparison  between  tho  privileges  of  a  Roman 
citizen  and  these  of  a  British  subject,  and  protested  that  one 
should  be  as  safe  as  the  other  had  been.  The  oration  was  a  mar- 
velous one,  occupying  full  five  hours  in  the  delivery,  full  of 
facts,  names,  dates,  figures,  references  of  all  kinds,  but  deliver- 
ed without  the  help  of  a  single  note.  But  all  was  summed  up  in 
the  one  phrase,  Civis  Momanus  sum,  and  it  was  that  which  carried 
the  day  for  the  speaker,  in  spite  of  all  opposition. 

But  there  were  those  in  the  House  of  Commons,  who,  as  far  as 
argument  could  reply  to  enthusiasm,  were  quite  capable  of  an- 
swering this  speech.  We  pass  over  the  defense  of  Palmerston's 
policy  by  Mr.  Cockburn,  since  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England,  a 
speech  which  was  only  second  to  Palmerstcn's  own  as  a  brilliant 
defense,  and  which  first  assured  the  rank  of  the  speaker  as  an 
orator;  and  the  "calm,  grave,  studiously  moderate  remon- 
strance of  Sir  Robert  Peel."  The  most  exhaustive  answer,  and 
the  one  upon  which  the  Opposition  chiefly  relied  as  an  expres- 
sion of  their  opinion,  was  Mr.  Gladstone's.  He  put  the  Roman 
citizen  business  in  the  strong  light  of  common  sense ;  the  Roman 
\vas  the  representative  of  tho  conqueror,  a  member  of  a  privi- 
leged caste,  a  citizen  of  a  nation  which  had  one  law  for  him  and 
another  for  tho  subject  world  j  the  British  subject,  on  the  other 
hand,  should  claim  only  such  privileges  as  his  Government  was 
willing  to  grant  to  others.  But  it  was  all  of  no  avail,  contrast- 
ed as  it  must  be  with  the  brilliancy  of  Palmerston  ;  the  British 
subject  was  at  least  the  equal  of  the  Roman  citizen,  and  the 


116 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli.  117 

course  of  the  Government  which  maintained  this  was  approved. 

It  is  pleasing  to  find  this  utterance  of  Peel  on  this  occasion 
free  from  that  bitterness  which  is  apt  to  creep  into  political  con- 
troversies ;  and  to  learn  that  he  had  spoken  in  the  highest  praise 
of  the  eloquence  of  the  man  whose  policy  he  thought  wrong. 
We  say  that  this  generosity  is  pleasing,  for  this  was  to  be  the 
last  debate  in  which  the  great  Tory  was  to  take  part;  and  his 
life  had  not  been  spent  in  bitter  struggles,  but  in  earnest  ones. 
Leaving  the  House  of  Commons  early  on  the  morning  of  June 
29th,  1850  (for  the  division  on  this  question  was  not  taken  until 
four  in  the  morning),  he  was  thrown  from  his  horse  the  afternoon 
of  the  same  day,  and  died  July  2nd,  from  the  injuries  received. 
His  death  took  place  at  a  comparatively  early  age,  for  he  was 
sixty-two,  an  age  at  which  many  an  English  statesman  has  been 
in  the  very  heyday  of  his  career.  Indeed,  Palmerston,  who  was 
some  years  older,  was  just  beginning  to  taste  success;  and  the 
examples  of  Gladstone  and  Disraeli,  who  were  premiers  at  the 
respective  ages  of  sixty  and  sixty-three  for  the  first  time,  are 
other  instances  of  the  late  hour  at  which  the  highest  success  is 
often  achieved.  Although  Peel's  health  had  for  some  time  been 
so  bad  that  he  had  announced  his  intention  to  live  a  quieter  life, 
there  is  little  doubt  that  the  growing  unpopularity  of  the  Min- 
istry would  soon  have  brought  about  their  resignation,  when 
Peel  must  again  have  been  placed  at  the  head  of  affairs. 

It  is  idle  to  speculate  upon  the  turn  which  English  politics 
would  have  taken,  in  case  Peel  had  lived  to  secure  a  speedy  Con- 
servative victory;  nor  do  our  limits  allow  it.  His  death  was  re- 
garded as  a  public  calamity,  and  even  those  statesmen  who  had 
been  most  opposed  to  him  spoke  in  praise  of  the  qualities  which 
he  had  shown  himself  possessed  of.  The  old  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton spoke  of  him  with  tears  running  down  his  cheeks,  which  he 
did  not  attempt  to  hide.  In  the  Commons,  which  had  been  the 
immediate  scene  of  so  many  of  his  triumphs,  the  respect  shown 
was  equally  great.  Praises,  not  extravagant,  but  well-deserved, 
were  showered  upon  the  dead  statesman  ;  and  his  most  illustrious 
follower  only  voiced  the  general  opinion  of  the  man  when  he 
pronounced  that  funeral  oration  which  is  justly  conceded  to  be 
not  unworthy  of  the  name  of  Gladstone. 

The  Ecclesiastical  Titles  BH1  came  up  for  consideration  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  year  1850,  and  the  debates  upon  it  ran  over  in- 
to the  next  year.  This  bill,  which  Roebuck  characterized  as 


118 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli. 


"one  of  the  meanest,  pettiest,  and  most  /utile  measures  which 
ever  disgraced  bigotry  itself,"  and  which  sturdy  John  Bright  de- 
clared was  "  little,  paltry  and  miserable,  a  mere  sham  to  bolster 
Church  ascendency,"  was  introduced  by  Lord  John  Eussell  him- 
self, and  proposed  to  forbid,  under  certain  penalties,  the  assump- 
tion by  Eoman  Catholic  ecclesiastics  of  any  title  taken  from  the 
name  of  any  territory  or  place  in  the  United  Kingdom.  Disraeli, 
•who  did  not  oppose  it,  spoke  in  terms  of  contempt  of  it,  as  a 
mere  piece  of  petty  persecution  ;  and  this  seems  to  have  heen 

the  attitude  of  many 
who  voted  for  the  in- 
troduction of  the  bill. 
When  the  division 
was  taken  on  the  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  it 
should  be  considered, 
there  were  three  hun- 
dred and  ninety-five 
ayes  to  only  sixty- 
three  noes;  but  among 
those  who  made  up 
this  small  number,  be- 
sides the  Catholic 
members,  were  such 
men  as  Mr.  Gladstone, 
Sir  James  Graham, 
Mr.  Cobden,  Mr. 
Bright,  and  others  of 
nearly  equal  note. 

In  the  debates  en- 
suing, the  Opposition 
was  materially  weak- 
ened by  the  character  of  some  of  the  men  who  came  to  their 
assistance,  men  who,  dubbed  "  The  Pope's  Brass  Band,"  were 
equally  distrusted  by  the  more  intelligent  Catholics  and  the 
more  bigoted  Tories;  while  to  the  former  the  bill  appeared  only 
in  the  light  of  an  insult. 

But  the  Government  lost  ground  steadily.  During  the  time  at 
which  the  bill  was  in  debate,  another  question  was  brought  up,  on 
which  the  Ministry  obtained  a  majority  of  only  fourteen  ;  a  bill 
brought  in  by  a  member  of  the  Opposition  left  the  Government 


John  Bright  in  His  Youth. 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli.  119 

in  a  minority  of  forty-eight,  though  the  attendance  was  so  small 
when  the  division  was  called  for  as  to  prove  it  a  "  snap  vote." 
The  budget  had  been  received  with  much  dissatisfaction,  which 
was  daily  increasing.  Under  such  circumstances,  Lord  John 
Russell  concluded  that  there  was  nothing  for  him  to  do  but  to 
resign ;  and  resign  he  did,  leaving  the  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill 
still  pending. 

A  year  before,  the  question  as  to  who  was  to  be  his  successor 
would  probably  have  been  answered  at  once;  but  Peel  was  dead, 
and  his  mantle  did  not  seem  to  have  fallen  upon  any  one  of  his 
followers.  True,  there  was  a  considerable  party  known  as  the 
"  Peelites,"  who  were  distinct  from  the  Tories,  to  which  organ- 
ization most  of  them  once  belonged,  and  had  not  yet  assimila- 
ted with  the  Liberals,  to  which  most  of  them  were  tending.  The 
death  of  Sir  Eobert  Peel  had  increased  the  political  independ- 
ence of  his  followers,  for  he  was  so  closely  connected  with  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  Conservatives,  if  not  of  the  Tories,  that  he  was 
claimed  as  a  member  of  that  party  ;  and  his  personal  adherents 
were  not  likely  to  leave  him.  But  with  his  death,  the  principles 
which  had  seemed  but  occasional  differences  with  those  held  by 
the  body  of  the  party,  grew  into  the  essential  ones  of  their  polit- 
ical faith;  and  the  Peelites  became  quite  distinct  from  the  Con- 
servatives. 

There  were  then  three  great  parties,  the  Liberals,  the  Conser- 
vatives, and  the  Peelites;  and  any  ministry  must  be  formed  of 
members  of  two  of  these,  for  no  Government  could  stand  against 
two  united  in  opposition.  But  the  Whigs  insisted  upon  the  Ec- 
clesiastical Titles  Bill,  and  the  Tories  upon  Protection,  and  the 
Peelites  would  not  join  either  party  while  these  principles  were 
supported.  On  the  other  hand,  the  party  which  thus  held  the 
balance  of  power  would  not  try  the  extent  of  it,  though  the  post 
of  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury  was  offered  to  Lord  Aberdeen,  the 
chief  of  the  party  in  the  House  of  Lords;  for  some  action 
must  be  taken  on  the  bill  still  pending,  and  a  Peelite  Govern- 
ment would  be  defeated  at  once.  Such  being  the  case,  Lord  John 
Russell  resumed  office,  and  the  bill  which  had  excited  such  op- 
position was  passed.  Before  its  passage,  however,  the  efforts  of 
its  enemies  had  shorn  success  of  its  value,  by  making  such 
amendments  as  made  the  bill  practically  worthless  for  the  pur- 
pose which  it  was  originally  intended  to  serve.  It  was  never  en- 
forced, even  in  this  modified  form. 


120  Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli. 

It  is  immediately  after  this  debate  that  we  learn  of  another 
trip  to  the  continent  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Gladstone.  This  was  not 
the  first,  of  course,  since  that  from  which  he  had  been  recalled 
to  stand  for  Newark  ;  but  its  results  were  so  important  that  it 
deserves  mention.  Purely  domestic  circumstances,  he  himself 
tells  us,  occasioned  his  residence  at  Naples  for  some  months  about 
this  time  ;  but  though  he  had  not  gone  on  any  errand  of  political 
criticism  or  censorship,  he  could  not  but  be  interested  in  the 
state  of  affairs  in  that  country. 

The  accession  of  Ferdinand  II.,  had  been  hailed  as  the  begin- 
ning of  a  new  era  for  the  wretched  kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies; 
and  the  new  reign  began  with  many  acts  of  royal  clemency  to- 
ward political  offenders.  But  the  liberal  measures  of  the  king 
were  regarded  as  dangerous  by  his  royal  relatives  in  Austria 
and  other  countries,  and  he  was  forced,  perhaps  not  unwillingly, 
to  abapdon  them.  The  result  was  insurrection  throughout  the 
country,  which,  after  the  French  Revolution  of  1848,  terminated 
in  the  king's  granting  a  constitution  to  his  people.  When  the 
reaction  came  in  Italy,  he  set  aside  the  constitution  thus  grant- 
ed, and  proceeded  to  wreak  his  vengeance  upon  all  who  had 
taken  part  in  the  effort  for  reform.  At  the  time  of  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's temporary  residence  there,  more  than  one-half  of  the 
legislative  body  were  in  confinement  as  political  prisoners;  or 
exiled;  and  other  subjects  to  the  number  of  twenty  thousand 
were  deprived  of  their  liberty.  This  number  seems  incredibly 
large,  but  some  estimates  placed  the  figures  half  as  high  again, 
while  the  refusal  of  the  Neapolitan  Government  to  make  any 
statement  whatever  rendered  it  impossible  to  get  at  exact  fig- 
gures.  Hundreds  were  indicted  for  capital  offences.  These  po- 
litical prisoners  were  confined  in  the  same  apartments  with  the 
vilest  criminals,  and,  like  them,  were  loaded  with  chains.  Suffer- 
ing from  diseases  contracted  by  their  confinement  in  the  loath- 
some dungeons  and  the  insufficient  food  with  which  they  were 
furnished,  they  were  obliged  to  crawl  painfully  up  long  flights 
of  steps  for  the  medical  assistance  which  the  Government  vouch- 
safed to  give  them;  because  the  apartments  which  they  occupied 
were  such  that  no  physician  would  enter,  out  of  regard  for  his 
own  health.  In  such  circumstances,  it  is  not  plain  why  any 
physicians  should  bo  allowed  to  relieve  them,  if  such  a  feat  were 
possible  to  medicine.  Nor  was  this  all.  Though  it  was  the  be- 
ginning of  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  some  of 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli.  121 

these  offenders  against  the  divine  right  of  kings  were  subjected 
to  tortures  which  would  have  done  credit  to  the  Middle  Ages. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  action  was  characteristic.  First  making  such 
close  and  accurate  observations  as  the  jealousy  of  the  Govern- 
ment would  permit,  and  thoroughly  informing  himself  of  the 
extent  of  these  outrages  upon  the  liberty  of  the  subject,  he  ad- 
dressed himself  to  the  Earl  of  Aberdeen,  who,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  regarded  as  the  chief  of  the  Peelite  party,  of  which  Mr. 
Gladstone  was  so  prominent  a  member.  His  reasons  for  taking 
action  he  carefully  stated :  as  a  member  of  the  Conservative 
party  (with  which  the  Peelites  were  still  nominally  classed),  he 
was  concerned  in  the  stability  of  all  the  established  govern- 
ments of  Europe,  and  the  outrages  perpetrated  by  the  king  would 
surely  lead  to  Republicanism  ;  but,  more  than  this,  Ferdinand 
and  his  creatures  had  offended  against  the  laws  of  humanity, 
and  all  who  loved  the  cause  of  humanity,  of  civilization,  of 
religion,  of  decency,  must  unite  to  condemn  him  and  his  actions. 
The  appeal  was  a  stirring  one;  cnd  when,  shortly  afterward,  it 
was  followed  by  another  from  the  same  pen,  the  writer's  wishes 
were  fully  realized. 

Mr.  Gladstone  was  careful  to  ma*ce  his  accusations  against  the 
Neapolitan  tyrant  purely  personal,  and  to  avoid  mixing  tip  any 
official,  diplomatical,  or  political  British  agencies  in  them;  and 
this  course  had  precisely  the  effect  which  he  had  looked  for.  His 
remonstrances  came  in  the  name  of  common  humanity;  he  was 
defending  the  right  of  all  men  to  liberty  which  has  never  been 
forfeited  by  crime;  and  he  did  so,  not  as  the  representative  of  any 
Government,  but  as  a  clear-sighted  man,  a  warm-hearted,  liberal- 
minded  statesman.  As  such  he  was  recognized,  by  the  officers 
of  the  British  Goverment;  and  the  popular  interest  in  the  Nea- 
politan prisons  was  voiced  in  the  proceedings  which  were  taken 
by  the  Foreign  Office.  Mr.  Gladstone's  second  letter  did  some- 
thing more  than  merely  reiterate  the  statements  contained  in 
the  first.  They  were  broadened  and  deepened,  until  the  case 
which  he  made  out  seemed  altogether  damning.  No  public  trial 
had  ever  been  accorded  these  unfortunates;  and  when  a  form 
had  been  gone  through  with,  the  accuser  had  been  one  of  the 
judges,  and  had  given  the  casting  vote.  Whatever  the  mind  can 
imagine  as  typical  of  t}Tranny  in  the  treatment  of  political 
enemies,  that,  without  exaggeration,  seems  from  Mr.  Gladstone's 
two  letters,  and  the  specific  statements  contained  in  them,  to 


122 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli.  123 

have  been  the  fate  of  those  Neapolitans  who  had  sought  their 
rights  in  the  days  of  Garibaldi.  And  these  statements,  it  is  need- 
less to  add,  were  not  the  wild  assertions  which  are  sometimes 
rife;  they  were  all  based  upon  the  best  authority;  in  some  cases, 
upon  the  results  of  his  personal  investigation  ;  in  others,  they 
were  so  notorious  that  there  was  no  attempt  made  to  deny  them 
at  any  time. 

Attention  was  drawn  in  the  House  of  Commons  to  the  state- 
ments thus  made  and  substantiated,  and  the  question  was  direct- 
ly put,  whether  the  British  Minister  at  Naples  could  not  be 
instructed  to  interfere,  to  secure  the  more  humane  treatment  of 
the  prisoners.  But  diplomacy  does  not  admit  of  such  a  direct 
course.  The  matter  was  one  which  affected  only  the  internal 
economy  of  an  independent  kingdom,  and  as  such  Great  Britain 
had  no  cause  to  interfere.  At  the  same  time,  the  matter  was  one 
which  men  of  feeling  could  not  pass  over;  and  though  the  Gov- 
ernment could  not  directly  act  in  this  matter,  the  Foreign  Sec- 
retary said  (and  he  was  vociferously  cheered  when  he  said  it), 
that  he  had  sent  copies  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  open  letters  to  the 
English  Ministers  at  all  the  courts  of  Europe,  with  instructions 
to  call  the  attention  of  the  Powers  to  the  state  of  affairs  there 
graphically  described. 

Of  course  the  Neapolitan  Government  was  far  from  being  as 
well  pleased  with  this  action  of  Palmerston's  as  the  House  of 
Commons  had  been  ;  and  determined  to  vindicate  itself.  There 
had  been  some  answers  to  Gladstone's  letters  published,  but  it  is 
noticeable  that  these  content  themselves  with  assertions  which 
are  foreign  to  the  subject,  or  praises  of  the  virtues  of  Ferdinand, 
who  is  gravely  said  to  have  been  a  very  religious  man.  They 
do  not  seem  to  have  thought  that  Gladstone,  the  upholder  of  the 
union  of  Church  and  State,  believed  in  mixing  religion  and 
politics  so  far  that  the  latter  was  not  entirely  destitute  of  traces 
of  the  influence  of  the  former. 

This  was  the  first  reply  which  the  accuser  thought  worthy  of 
an  answer;  and  this  merely  because  it  was  an  official  utterance, 
not  because  the  arguments  there  brought  forward  were  such  as 
to  overthrow  his  own.  Nine-tenths  of  the  accusations  were 
tacitly  admitted  ;  and  the  authorities  which  the  Neapolitan  Gov- 
ernment invoked  to  disprove  the  others  were  poor  and  meager, 
compared  with  the  wealth  of  testimony  which  Mr.  Gladstone  had 
adduced.  He  admitted  what  they  claimed,  that  in  five  instances 


J24  Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli. 

he  had  been  mistaken ;  but  he  reiterated  the  charges  which  they 
had  not  denied,  and  added  proof  to  proof  to  convince  the  world 
at  large  that  more  than  twenty  thousand  men  were  suffering 
from  the  tyranny  of  Ferdinand.  The  blunders  of  his  critics  were 
mercilessly  exposed.  Their  greatest  blunder,  according  to  the 
author  of  an  anonymous  pamphlet  on  the  subject,  which  appeared 
in  1852,  was  in  answering  at  all. 

But  no  direct  action  was  taken  by  the  European  Governments, 
and  Ferdinand  cared  nothing  for  mere  opinions.  Only  the  re- 
membrance of  these  outrages  was  stored  up  in  the  hearts  of  men, 
and  made  them  the  more  ready  to  look  upon  Garibaldi  as  the 
hand  and  brain  which,  in  liberating  Italy  from  the  dominion  of 
her  petty  tyrants,  should  do  much  for  the  cause  of  liberty 
throughout  the  world.  Not  until  the  last  of  December,  1858, 
does  the  Neapolitan  Government  seem  to  have  taken  any  action 
to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  their  prisoners;  ninety-one  poli- 
tical offenders  then  had  their  punishment  commuted  to  perpetual 
banishment;  but  it  is  a  sufficient  commentary  upon  the  treat- 
ment which  they  had  received,  that  fourteen  of  these  had  died 
in  their  dungeons,  while  others  were  too  ill  to  be  moved. 

We  have  followed  the  course  of  events  in  the  English  Parlia- 
ment during  the  greater  part  of  this  year,  the  visit  to  Naples 
having  preceded  the  passage  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill. 
To  the  story,  thus  told  without  interruption  from  the  recounting 
of  events  with  which  it  had  little  connection,  we  have  but  to  add 
some  statements  regarding  a  change  in  the  Ministry.  Lord  Pal- 
merston,  so  long  connected  with  the  Foreign  Office,  left  it  in 
December,  1851.  His  retirement  was  not  a  voluntary  one,  as  he 
had  given  great  offence  by  frequently  acting  without  consulting 
his  superiors  in  office,  or  laying  his  plans  of  action  before  the 
Queen.  More  than  this,  he  had,  both  in  public  dispatches  and 
private  conversation,  expressed  a  most  decided  opinion  in  re- 
gard to  the  Prince-President  of  France,  Louis  Napoleon ;  in  dis- 
tinct violation  of  the  wishes  of  the  Queen  and  of  the  Cabinet. 

Lord  John  Eussell  resigned  the  premiership  in  February,  1852, 
and  Lord  Derby,  who  had  but  recently  succeeded  to  that  title, 
and  was  better  known  as  Lord  Stanley,  was  appointed  in  his 
place.  Disraeli  had  happily  christened  this  nobleman  the  " Ru- 
pert of  Debate,"  in  allusion  to  his  ability  and  his  blunders;  as 
Prince  Rupert  frequently  lost  the  battles  which  his  headlong 
courage  had  almest  won,  by  the  mistakes  which  he  made  in  the 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli.  125 

uso  of  his  advantages.  It  is  significant  of  the  state  of  English 
politics  at  this  time,  that  Mr.  Gladstone,  who  afterward  virtually 
drove  this  Ministry  from  power,  could  have  had  a  place  in  it 
if  he  would  have  accepted  it. 

The  new  Ministry  was  not  a  strong  one.  Palmerstou  said  that 
it  "  contained  two  men  and  a  number  of  ciphers."  The  two  men 
were  Derby  and  Disraeli;  the  others  had  neither  ability  or  ex- 
perience to  recommend  them.  The  old  Duke  of  Wellington, 
who  was  at  this  time  more  than  eighty,  was  very  much  interest- 
ed in  this  Ministry,  and  anxious  to  know  its  personnel.  Being 
very  deaf,  his  conversation  with  Lord  Derby  was  heard  over 
the  House  of  Lords.  The  Duke  would  inquire  as  to  the  appointee 
to  some  particular  office;  the  Earl  would  reply,  "  Who  ?  Who  ?" 
The  Duke  would  ask  again,  not  hearing  the  unfamiliar  names 
with  the  same  readiness  as  if  they  had  been  well-known  to  him  ; 
and  the  same  performance  would  be  repeated  with  the  next  name. 
The  story  was  told  by  those  who  heard  the  conversation,  and 
the  new  Government  was  irreverently  dubbed  the  "Who?  Who? 
Ministry." 

Mr.  Disraeli  was  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  and  at  the 
same  time  the  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons.  But  it  has  been 
aptly  said  that  his  party  was  more  afraid  of  his  genius  than  of 
the  dullness  of  his  colleagues.  He  was  placed  in  a  situation  of 
peculiar  difficulty.  The  Conservatives  claimed  to  have  a  con- 
siderable majority  in  the  House  of  Commons;  they  would  per- 
haps have  a  larger  one  in  the  next  Parliament;  but  the  Liberal 
Ministry  was  continued  in  power  solely  for  the  reason  that  no 
one  was  ready  to  take  the  reins  of  office  out  of  their  hands. 
The  disadvantage  of  being  in  a  Ministry  which  cannot  com. 
mand  a  majority,  was  shared  with  all  his  colleagues ;  but  Mr. 
Disraeli  was  undertaking  a  task  for  which  he  had  been  thought 
to  display  no  aptitude  whatever.  He  had  never  before  held  of- 
fice; he  was  not  credited  with  any  capacity  for  the  mastery  of 
figures;  and  the  cleverness  of  the  speech  with  which  he  entered 
upon  the  duties  of  his  office  was  .a  surprise  to  all  who  heard  him. 

The  position  of  the  Ministry  upon  the  important  subject  of 
Protection  was  a  strange  one,  and  one  which  was  only  too  likely 
to  involve  it  in  difficulties.  Lord  Derby  had  indiscreetly  de- 
clared that  he  did  not  regard  the  question  as  definitely  settled, 
although  it  was  now  six  years  since  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws, 
and  the  prosperity  of  the  country  had  been  increasing  ever  since 


£ 

s 


126 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli.  127 

the  effect  of  the  repeal  had  been  felt.  But  Mr.  Disraeli  was  by 
no  means  of  the  same  opinion.  He  saw,  only  too  clearly,  that 
the  position  was  an  untenable  one;  and  with  a  coolness  which  at 
least  bordered  upon  effrontary,  told  the  House  of  Commons  that 
he  had  never  attempted  to  reverse  the  principle  of  Free  Trade. 
This,  however,  was  not  until  the  session  which  began  in  Novem- 
ber, 1852,  when  the  considerable  losses  with  which  the  Ministry 
had  met  in  the  elections  may  have  taught  the  right  honorable 
gentleman  what  were  the  effects  of  re-opening  the  question  which 
had  so  long  been  considered  settled. 

The  session  had  opened  with  eulogies  upon  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington, who  had  died  in  the  previous  September.  Prominent 
among  these  speakers  on  the  hero  of  a  war  so  long  past,  we 
find  Mr.  Gladstone,  who  appears  by  this  time  to  be  so  far  recog- 
nized as  the  leading  speaker  in  the  House  that  he  was  expected  to 
speak  on  all  such  occasions.  The  peculiar  dignity  to  which 
"  the  Duke,"  as  he  was  always  called  in  these  last  years  of  his  life, 
as  if  there  were  no  other  of  that  rank  in  the  country,  had  attain- 
ed, was  well  described  by  Mr.  Gladstone: 

"It  may  never  be  given  to  another  subject  of  the  British 
Crown  to  perform  services  so  brilliant  as  he  performed;  it  may 
never  be  given  to  another  man  to  hold  the  sword  which  was  to 
gain  the  independence  of  Europe,  to  rally  the  nations  around  it, 
and  while  England  saved  herself  by  her  constancy,  to  save  Eu- 
rope by  her  example;  it  may  never  be  given  to  another  man, 
after  having  attained  such  eminence,  after  such  an  unexampled 
series  of  victories,  to  show  equal  moderation  in  peace  as  ho  had 
shown  greatness  in  war,  and  to  devote  the  remainder  of  his  life 
to  the  cause  of  internal  and  external  peace  for  the  country  which 
he  has  so  served ;  it  may  never  be  given  to  another  man  to  have 
equal  authority  both  with  the  Sovereign  he  served,  and  with  the 
senate  of  which  he  was  to  the  end  a  venerated  member ;  it  may 
never  be  given  to  another  man,  after  such  a  career,  to  preserve 
even  to  the  last  the  full  possession  of  those  great  faculties  with 
wh:ch  ho  was  endowed,  and  to  carry  on  the  services  of  one  of 
the  most  important  departments  of  the  State  with  unexampled 
regularity  and  success,  even  to  the  latest  day  of  his  life." 

The  House  was  at  once  involved  in  discussions  on  the  question 
of  Free  Trade;  a  resolution  was  proposed,  affirming  that  the  im- 
proved condition  of  the  people  was  mainly  due  to  the  repeal  of 
the  duties  in  1846;  and  although  this  was  negatived,  an  amend 


]->8  Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli. 

ment  affirming  that  the  principle  of  unrestricted  competition,  to- 
gether with  the  abolition  of  protecting  taxes,  had  diminished  the 
cost  and  increased  the  supply  of  the  chief  articles  of  food,  and 
so  brought  about  the  improved  state  of  the  country,  was  adopt- 
ed by  the  tremendous  majority  of  four  hundred  and  fifteen,  in 
a  House  of  little  over  five  hundred  members.  It  was  during  this 
debate  that  M.r.  Disraeli  made  the  astonishing  statements  to 
which  reference  has  already  been  mad<; ;  and  he  even  went  to  the 
length  of  assaulting  the  memory  of  Sir  Eobert  Peel.  This  was 
more  than  the  followers  of  that  statesman  could  stand,  and  more 
than  one  of  his  adherents  was  ready  with  a  vindication  of  his 
life  and  course  in  political  matters. 

Early  in  December  Mr.  Disraeli  brought  forward  his  first 
budget.  His  speech  extended  over  more  than  five  hours.  His 
first  budget  had  of  course  been  a  mere  makeshift,  for  he  had  not 
had  time  to  prepare  one  which  would  be  a  real  test  of  his  pow- 
ers in  that  direction.  This  was  made  ready  under  the  most  fa- 
vorable circumstances,  as  to  the  +,:me,  that  any  one  could  expect  ; 
and  the  House  was  ready  to  see  what  kind  of  a  plan  this  remark- 
able man  would  present  to  it.  But  the  other  conditions  were  not 
so  favorable.  He  had  to  please  the  interest  which  he  had  really 
represented  for  so  long,  the  country  gentry  and  farmers,  and 
how  he  was  to  do  this,  without  still  further  alienating  the  Peel- 
ites  and  Free  Traders,  was  more  than  any  one  could  well  see. 

The  budget  proposed  to  remit  a  part  of  the  taxes  on  malt,  tea, 
and  sugar;  to  extend  the  income  tax  to  funded  property  and 
salaries  in  Ireland,  to  make  up  the  deficit  caused  by  the  remis- 
sion; and  to  make  some  changes  in  this  tax  in  other  respects; 
the  house  tax  was  also  to  be  extended  and  increased. 

The  speech  which  proposed  these  changes  excited  great  op- 
position, which  was  voiced  by  Mr.  Gladstone  in  one  of  the  fierc- 
est invectives  which  ever  fell  from  his  lips.  His  answer  was 
by  some  regarded  as  too  bitter  and  pungent;  but  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  he  was  smarting  under  the  thought  that  this  was 
the  man  who  had  so  lately  assailed  the  beloved  chief  under  whom 
he  had  served;  and  the  personal  popularity  of  Peel  seems  to 
have  been  great  during  his  life,  and  to  have  lasted  long  after  his 
death.  Mr.  Disraeli,  in  reply,  made  one  of  those  personal  at- 
tacks for  which  he  had  already  become  famous,  upon  Sir  James 
Graham,  who  was  looked  upon  as  the  leader  of  the  Peelites  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  whose  support  was  so  valuable, 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli.  129 

that  it  was  commonly  said  that  a  speech  from  him  was  worth 
fifty  votes  to  any  measure.  He  then  turned  upon  Sir  Charles 
Wood,  the  late  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  and  leaning  across 
the  table  and  directing  his  words  full  at  him,  said  :  "I  care  not 
to  be  the  right  honorable  gentleman's  critic;  but  if  he  has  learn- 
ed his  business,  he  has  yet  to  learn  that  petulance  is  not  sar- 
casm, and  that  insolence  is  not  invective."  It  was  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  but  the  members  had  no  thought  of  sleep  ;  the 
contest  was  too  exciting  for  that;  Mr.  Disraeli  had  hardly  ut- 
tered the  last  sentence  of  his  speech  when  Mr.  Gladstone  leaped 
upon  his  feet  to  answer  him.  This  debate  upon  the  budget  was 
the  first  time  that  they  had  come  into  such  bitter  collision  ;  and 
this  second  speech  of  Mr.  Gladstone  was  burning  with  more 
than  the  energy  of  the  first.  The  House  had  been  listening  to 
Disraeli  with  an  interest  rarely  felt  in  the  speeches  of  the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer;  and  when  Gladstone  arose  it  was 
thought  that  after  such  a  speech  even  he  could  make  but  little 
impression.  But  they  who  judged  so  were  in  the  wrong.  A  yet 
greater  effect  was  produced  by  the  reply  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  all 
unpremeditated  as  it  was  ;  and  when  the  division  was  taken  two 
hours  later,  the  Government  was  left  in  a  minority  of  nineteen. 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  left  the  building  with  a 
friend  ;  as  they  looked  out  upon  the  streets,  dim  and  grey  with 
the  lights  of  the  night  which  had  not  yet  ended,  and  shining  with 
the  rain  which  was  falling  steadily  and  drearily,  he  remarked, 
coolly,  as  he  buttoned  up  his  coat:  "It  will  be  an  unpleasant 
day  for  going  to  Osborne."  Such  was  his  only  expression  re- 
garding the  resignation  which  had  been  forced  so  early  in  his 
official  career. 

There  was  no  other  course  for  the  Ministry,  thus  defeated  up- 
on their  most  important  measure,  to  pursue ;  and  that  day  the 
resignation  of  the  various  members  was  duly  placed  in  Her 
Majesty's  hands.  A  few  days  afterward,  the  Coalition  Ministry 
was  formed.  The  Earl  of  Aberdeen  was  Prime  Minister,  Lord 
John  Russell  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  Lord  Pal- 
merston  was  at  the  Home  Office,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  was  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer.  Having  made  such  a  brilliant  on- 
slaught upon  the  late  budget,  and  such  a  crushing  expose  of  its 
blunders,  he  had  now  an  opportunity  of  trying  his  own  powers 
at  the  task  in  which  his  rival  had  failed  so  disastrously. 

Thus  the  chapter  begins  and  ends  with  a  conflict  with  Disraeli; 

9 


130  Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli. 

a  conflict  which,  as  McCarthy  observes,  ended  only  when  Dis- 
raeli crossed  the  threshold  of  the  House  of  Commons  for  the 
last  time,  to  take  his  place  in  the  House  of  Lords  as  the  Earl  of 
Beaconsfield.  Perhaps  the  real  antagonism  of  the  men,  who 
represented  such  essentially  different  ideas,  lasted  longer  than 
this;  until  the  Earl  of  Beaconsfield,  the  first  and  last  to  bear 
the  title,  was  carried  out  from  his  home  of  Hughenden,  its  mas- 
ter no  longer,  to  rest  beside  that  remarkable  wife  who  was  the 
chief  helpei  in  his  many  struggles.  The  life  duel  was  carried 
on  both  in  and  out  of  the  House  of  Commons,  but  it  is  of  the 
former  to  which  history  will  have  most  reference.  The  very 
formation  of  the  hall  in  which,  the  House  met  emphasized  the 
antagonism.  Although  the  scene  of  some  of  the  most  brilliant 
debates  of  modern  times  and  the  cradle  of  British  oratory,  the 
House  is  more  like  a  committee-room,  in  point  of  size,  than  a 
legislative  assembly.  For  years  there  have  been  over  600  mem- 
bers and  an  attendance  of  500  is  quite  common.  But  there  is 
only  sitting  accommodation  for  about  360,  or  at  most  400,  on 
the  floor  of  the  House.  There  are  neither  tables  nor  desks  for 
the  convenience  of  members,  who  are  ranged  on  cushioned 
benches  with  a  minimum  of  space  both  as  regards  width  and 
leg  room.  Members  wear  their  hats  during  the  transaction  of 
business,  being  expected  to  uncover  only  when  rising  to  address 
the  House  or  during  the  reading  of  a  royal  message.  The  bench- 
es run  up  and  down  the  Hall,  with  a  space  in  the  centre,  and 
thus  ministerialists  and  members  in  opposition  sit  face  to  face  on 
either  side  of  the  aisle  in  front  of  the  Speaker.  The  front  row 
on  the  Government  side  of  the  House  is  assigned  to  Cabinet 
Ministers  and  others  holding  office.  Disraeli,  when  Premier, 
occupied  the  seat  nearest  the  Speaker,  but  Gladstone  always 
favored  a  position  a  little  farther  down.  The  corresponding 
bench  on  the  Opposition  side  is  occupied  by  the  leader  of  the 
Opposition  and  by  ex-ministers. 

Thus  the  leading  party  men  sit  very  close  to  each  other,  but 
are  separated  by  the  historical  table,  on  which  stands  the  sym- 
bolic mace,  the  official  documents  and  papers  of  the  House,  the 
oath  box  and  the  Ministers'  despatch  boxes.  If  this  table  could 
but  speak  and  recount  its  wrongs,  it  would  tell  of  scores,  nay 
thousands  of  vicious  and  violent  blows.  Gladstone  has  empha- 
sized some  of  his  brilliant  efforts  by  means  of  blows  with  clench- 
ed fists,  such  as  could  only  be  dealt  by  a  man  who  is  an  athlete 


Gladstone  vs.  Disraeli. 


131 


as  well  as  a  statesman;  Disraeli  has 
also  pounded  it  pretty  badly.  Once 
the  latter  became  so  enraged  in 
the  course  of  a  word  conflict  with 
Gladstone,  that  he  shouted  out  with 
great  vehemence,that  he  was  thank- 
ful the  table  divided  them. 

The  mace  is  the  most  important 
piece  of  furniture  in  this  severely 
simple  looking  hall.  Its  antiquity 
is  very  great;  it  is  borne  before 
the  Speaker  when  he  enters  the 
House  and  when  he  leaves  it;  it  is 
supposed  by  some  to  symbolize  the 
authority  of  the  Crown,  and  its 
presence  on  the  table  also  indi- 
cates that  the  House  is  in  session. 
When  Cromwell  forcibly  dissolved  a 
disobedient  House,  he  did  so  by  coarse- 
ly ordering  his  attendants  to  "take 
away  this  bauble/'  and  the  solemn  and 
imposing  emblem  was  for  once  dishon- 
ored. It  is  i  n  the  conventionalized  form 
of  a  head  wearing  a  crown,  thus,  per- 
haps, signifying  a  supposed  presence 
of  the  Sovereign.  There  are  several 
maces,  but  the  one  in  our  illustration 
is  most  commonly  used,  and  probably 
the  most  ancient.  From  the  initials 
"C.  B.,"  repeatedly  stamped  upon  it, 
it  is  presumed  to  date  from  the  reign 
of  either  Charles  I.  or  Charles  II.  The 
quality  of  the  metal  work  is  not  of 
the  finest  known  in  the  history  of  the 
goldsmith's  art  in  England,  being  rath- 
er inferior  to  the  best  examples.  It  is, 
however,  an  interesting  piece  of  plate, 
and,  like  every  antique  article  in  the 
House,  is  preserved  with  the  usual 
British  reverence  for  age  and  prece- 
dent. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  MINISTRY  OF  ALL  THE  TALENTS. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  Early  Political  Faith—  His  Act  of  Self-denial—  First  Step 
Toward  Leaving  the  Conservative  Party  —  House  of  Commons  and  the 
New  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer—  Grows  Eloquent  Over  a  Dry  Subject  — 
Debate  on  the  Income  Tax—  Impending  War  —  Will  of  the  People  Must 
be  Obeyed  —  Measures  for  Kaising  Revenue—  Bitter  Taunts  from  Disraeli  — 
Views  of  the  Prince  Consort  —  Miss  Florence  Nightingale  —The  Crimean 
War  —  Impressive  Scene  in  the  House  of  Commons—  New  Ministry  by 
Lord  Palmerston  —  Lord  John  Russell  —  Great  Speech  by  Mr.  Gladstone  — 
Continuance  of  the  War  Debates. 


Mr.  Gladstone  entered  Parliament  in  1832,  he  was 
an  ardent  supporter  of  all  those  measures  with  which 
the  ultra  Tories  were  then  associated  j  he  would  have 
condemned  Reform,  perhaps,  had  he  been  in  the  previous  Par- 
liament ;  as  it  was,  he  sat  for  what  was  really  a  pocket-borough, 
and  one  which  was  not  likely  to  be  given  up  by  its  virtual  own- 
er, since  he  was  one  of  the  most  stubborn  anti-Reformers  in  all 
England.  He  was  then  an  advocate  of  Protection  j  he  upheld 
the  union  of  Church  and  State,  and  boldly  proclaimed  his  opin- 
ion that  the  State  had  (or  ought  to  have)  a  conscience  j  he  was 
ready  to  fight  to  the  death  all  contemners  of  the  Established 
Church  of  Ireland.  With  the  latter  feeling,  and  the  changes 
which  it  underwent,  we  shall  have  more  to  do  hereafter;  the 
subject  of  the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church  is  one  of  such 
importance,  both  in  itself,  and,  what  is  of  more  moment  to  us, 
as  one  of  the  main  points  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  career,  that  we 
shall  consider  that  apart  from  all  other  measures  in  the  success 
or  defeat  of  which  this  most  liberal  minded  of  English  states- 
men has  had  a  hand. 

In  his  "  Chapter  of  Autobiography,"  which  is  in  the  main  a 
defence  of  his  change  of  opinion  regarding  the  Irish  Church,  he 
alludes  to  the  three  great  measures  which  Sir  Robert  Peel  at 
first  vehemently  opposed,  but  afterward  was  among  the  first  to 
carry  out  —  Catholic  Emancipation,  Parliamentary  Reform,  and 
Free  Trade.  Such  changes,  the  writer  argues,  are  due  to  a  lack 

132 


The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents.  133 

of  foresight;  not  that  the  statesmen  who  have  thus  altered  their 
opinions  possessed  less  of  this  desirable  quality  than  their  pre- 
decessors who  have  been  more  consistent;  but  the  enlargement 
of  the  governing  class,  the  gradual  transfer  of  political  powel 
from  groups  and  limited  classes  to  the  community,  has  render- 
ed a  much  larger  range  necessary — a  range  greater  than  is  pos- 
sible to  mere  men.  His  further  argument  is  even  stronger  than 
this;  admitting  that  such  foresight  were  possessed  by  a  states- 
man— 

"  The  public  mind  is,  to  a  great  degree,  unconscious  of  its  own 
progression  ;  and  it  would  resent  and  repudiate,  if  offered  to  its 
mature  judgment,  the  verj  policy  which  after  a  while  it  will 
gravely  consider,  and  after  another  while  enthusiastically  em- 
brace." 

This  paragraph  is  the  real  defense  which  Gladstone  makes, 
and  it  is  the  best  that  can  be  made,  against  those  who  upbraid 
him  for  his  change  of  principle.  It  should  be  noted  that  they 
who  do  so  are  members  of  the  party  which  he  left,  which  has 
felt  his  loss  severely.  He  expressly  disclaims  all  desire  of  de- 
fending those  who  have  made  sudden  modifications  of  the  prin- 
ciples which  they  have  previously  upheld,  for  too  obvious  rea- 
sons; but  his  own  political  belief,  though  it  may  be  radically 
diiferent  from  what  it  was  when  he  entered  public  life,  has 
changed  so  gradually  that  it  is  plain  to  see  the  alterations  are 
the  results  of  conviction. 

As  a  proof  of  this,  it  is  unnecessary  to  refer  to  more  than  one 
instance,  in  that  part  of  his  career  which  has  already  been  con- 
sidered :  his  resignation  from  Sir  Eobert  Peel's  ministry  in  1845. 
Commented  on  at  the  time  as  one  of  those  rare  instances  in 
which  a  public  man  really  injures  himself  by  an  act  of  self-de- 
nial, it  yet  had  its  advantage  as  showing  how  entirely  earnest  he 
was  in  any  change  which  his  convictions  might  undergo.  It 
proved  his  sincerity  then,  and  for  all  time  to  come.  There  isota 
view  of  the  case,  however,  which  must  not  be  overlooked:  it 
has  been  said  that  Mr.  Gladstone  is  so  skilled  at  argument,  so 
well  able  to  convince  the  doubtful  of  the  truth  of  the  point 
which  he  supports,  that  he  is  often  led  to  believe  that  his  own 
original  position  is  untenable,  simply  by  the  force  of  the  reasoning 
which  he  brings  to  bear  upon  the  weak  points  which  all  posi- 
tions must  have.  "  He  can  convince  himself  of  anything  which 
he  wishes  to  believe,"  is  the  not  too  flattering  verdict  of  one  of 


134  The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents. 

his  self-constituted  judges;  it  is  a  defect  which  is  perhaps  an  es* 
sential  element  of  a  subtle  reasoner's  mental  constitution;  but 
this  judgment,  though  it  has  a  show  of  profundity,  leaves  the 
question  in  exactly  the  same  state  as  before  ;  the  Liberals  of  the 
present  day  will  still  hold  that  he  has  always  wished  to  believe 
in  those  principles  which  are,  according  to  them,  at  the  basis 
of  all  good  government ;  while  the  Tories  will  express  the  op- 
posite opinion. 

A  more  scathing  criticism  would  be,  that  he  has  always  man- 
aged to  persuade  himself  that  the  measure  which  would  serve 
him  best  was  that  which  it  was  his  duty  to  support,  as  the  one 
which  would  be  the  best  for  the  country ;  but  since  the  day  when 
the  London  News  recorded  the  first  step  which  he  took  in  a  direc- 
tion opposite  to  that  in  which  he  had  been  walking,  and  con- 
demned the  sacrifice  as  one  which  was  far  removed  from  wisdom, 
no  one  has  made  this  assertion. 

In  1852  was  taken  the  first  decisive  action  toward  leaving  the 
Conservative  party.  Hitherto  his  convictions  might  have  changed 
from  time  to  time,  but  so  had  those  of  many  of  the  Tory  leaders; 
in  one  case,  at  any  rate,  he  had  but  followed  Peel  and  the  great 
majority  of  his  adherents;  he  had  in  all  crises  considered  him- 
self bound  to  support  the  policy  advocated  by  the  Conservative 
chief;  but  now  there  was  coming  a  period  of  uncertainty,  as 
much  in  his  own  mind  as  in  the  minds  of  those  about  him  ;  per- 
haps, indeed,  his  own  doubts  were  sooner  aroused,  and  more 
sharply  defined,  than  those  of  others;  certainly  he  was  offered 
a  position  in  a  Conservative  cabinet  long  after  the  beginning  of 
the  period  that  we  usually  consider  him  a  member  of  the  oppos- 
ing party. 

His  joining  the  Coalition  Ministry  of  1852  had  no  significance, 
however,  in  this  connection  ;  for  the  chief  of  that  Government 
was  Lord  Aberdeen,  the  leader  of  the  Peelites ;  the  Conserva- 
tive members  of  that  Cabinet  certainly  yielded  no  more  than  the 
Liberals  did,  and  Palmerston  and  Russell  were  thoroughly  identi- 
fied with  that  party,  and  continued  to  be  so  after  the  fall  of 
Aberdeen's  administration.  It  was  simply  a  temporary  alliance 
made  necessary  by  the  state  of  the  great  parties  at  that  date. 

The  newly  appointed  ministers  had  to  seek  re-election,  and  in 
this  special  contest  Mr.  Gladstone  discovered,  what  he  could  not 
fail  to  have  foreseen,  that  his  tendencies  to  Liberalism  were  not 
approved  by  the  electors  of  the  University  of  Oxford.  His 


The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents.  135 

aeat  was  hotly  contested,  though  the  only  opponent  that  could 
be  found  for  him  was  a  gentleman  who  was  merely  the  son  of 
his  father.  The  father  was  Perceval,  that  Prime  Minister  who 
in  1812  had  been  assassinated  in  the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons; the  son  was  so  little  known,  that  the  Times,  which  was 
then  a  better  friend  to  Mr.  Gladstone  and  his  allies  than  in 
1887-8,  sarcastically  described  him  "  as  a  very  near  relative  of 
our  old  friend  Mrs.  Harris,"  and  called  upon  his  supporters  to 
prove  his  actual  existence.  But  Mr.  Gladstone's  course,  in  regard 
+o  the  divisions  upon  ecclesiastical  subjects,  had  been  very  offen- 
sive to  many  of  the  Oxonians;  and  his  majority,  even  over  this 
unknown  and  untried  man,  could  hardly  be  called  a  manifestation 
of  great  popularity.  Perhaps  a  more  eloquent  testimony  to  the 
esteem  in  which  he  was  then  held  by  the  thinkers  is  the  fact  that 
of  the  one  hundred  and  one  professors  whose  votes  were  record- 
ed, and  of  whom  twelve  were  neutral,  no  less  tha-n  seventy-four 
voted  for  Mr.  Gladstone. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  first  feat  in  connection  with  the  important  of- 
fice which  he  now  held  was  the  maturing  of  a  plan  for  the  re- 
duction of  the  National  Debt.  Supported  by  the  prominent  Kad- 
ical  members  of  the  House,  as  well  as  by  those  who  ordinarily 
adhered  to  the  Government,  this  plan  was  adopted  and  put  into 
immediate  operation.  Before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  which  be- 
gan a  year  later,  the  debt  had  been  reduced  more  than  eleven 
millions  of  pounds. 

Ten  days  later,  the  House  of  Commons  sat  spell-bound,  listen- 
ing to  the  schemes  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  for  deal- 
ing with  the  finances  of  the  country.  The  expression  sounds  like 
that  bitterest  of  all  sarcasm,  which  condemns  by  extravagant 
praise ;  but  it  is  the  universal  testimony  that  it  was  the  bare  truth. 
Never  has  there  been  any  other  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
who  could  thus  entrance  the  House  with  his  arrays  of  figures ; 
but  the  depths  of  philosophy  from  which  Mr.  Gladstone  builtup 
the  foundations  of  his  policy  have  rarely  been  fathomed  by  oth- 
ers, who  have  generally  been  content  with  a  much  more  super- 
ficial structure.  Although  he  spoke  for  five  hours  upon  this  oc- 
casion, the  House  followed  him  throughout  with  unabated  inter- 
est. During  the  whole  time,  his  command  of  words  never  once 
failed  him;  and  each  abtsruse  financial  detail  was  clothed  with 
the  language  which  best  fitted  it  for  presentation  in  the  most 
favorable  guise  to  the  minds  of  his  listeners. 


Lobby  of  the  House  of  Commons.    The  Speaker  Entering  the  Hall, 

with  the  Mace  Borne  Before  Him. 
lob 


The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents.  137 

The  most  important  point  which  was  touched  upon  in  this  budg- 
et and  the  speech  in  which  it  was  presented  to  the  House,  was  the 
Income  Tax.  This  duty,  which  had  been  proposed  for  the  first 
time  in  the  days  of  Pitt,  to  enable  the  Government  to  meet  the 
expenses  arising  out  of  the  Napoleonic  wars,  had  come  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  necessity  by  the  financiers,  though  there  was  much 
dissatisfaction  with  it  outside  of  the  small  circle  of  those  who 
were  charged  with  the  settlement  of  the  national  expenses.  It 
was  certain  that  its  abolition  would  lead  to  increased  prosperity, 
if  only  the  period  between  the  present  and  that  future  when  the 
effects  of  its  abolition  should  be  clearly  felt  could  be  bridged; 
and  Mr.  Gladstone  showed  that  this  was  not  impossible.  The 
tax  was  not  to  be  done  away  with  at  once,  but  being  continued 
for  a  period  of  two  years,  and  after  that  gradually  lessened,  it 
would  have  disappeared  by  the  beginning  of  1860.  In  that  year, 
the  Chancellor  argued,  Parliament  would  find  it  possible  to 
dispense  with  the  Income  Tax  altogether.  The  trouble  had  here- 
tofore been,  not  that  there  was  no  attempt  made  to  deal  with 
this  duty  ;  but  that  all  the  action  which  had  been  taken  in  con- 
nection with  it  had  been  such  as  to  unsettle  the  public  mind 
with  reference  to  it;  whatever  was  done  now,  he  told  them,  must 
be  bold  and  decisive. 

An  amendment  affirming  that  the  continuance  of  the  Income 
Tax  was  unjust  and  impolitic  was  brought  forward  by  Sir  E. 
Bulwer-Lytton,  and  warmly  supported  by  Mr.  Disraeli,  who 
seized  the  opportunity  of  making  a  personal  attack  upon  Lord 
John  Russell  for  having  joined  the  Coalition  Ministry,  and  thus 
deserting  the  Whig  party,  as  the  speaker  claimed,  for  an  alliance 
with  the  former  followers  of  Peel.  In  that  portion  of  his  speech 
which  related  directly  to  the  matter  under  consideration,  the  ex- 
Chancellor  said  that  the  proposals  of  his  successor  added  to  the 
burdens  on  land,  while  they  lightened  those  which  pressed  upon 
particular  classes  ;  and  with  that  happy  faculty  for  using  striking 
phrases  which  had  always  distinguished  him,  he  added  that  he 
could  see  no  difference,  so  far  as  the  danger  of  a  system  of  privi- 
leged classes  was  concerned,  between  a  privileged  noble  and  a 
privileged  tobacconist.  Mr.  Cobden  and  Mr.  Hume  supported  the 
amendment,  while  Mr.  Caldwell  and  Mr.  Lowe  took  part  in  this 
animated  debate  on  the  side  of  the  Government.  Nor  was  Rus- 
sell silent;  but  in  well  chosen  words  showed  the  various  incon- 
sistencies of  which  Mr.  Disraeli  had  been  guilty,  in  his  former 


138  The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents. 

schemes  and  present  attitude  toward  the  Income  Tax  ;  and  closed 
with  a  panegyric  upon  the  author  of  the  present  plan,  saying  that 
he  was  to  be  envied  among  English  Finance  Ministers.  This  is 
the  second  time  that  we  find  this  ardent  Whig  speaking  in  warm 
praise  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  before  the  tribunal  to  which  they  both 
looked  for  approval  of  their  political  course. 

The  ministerial  scheme  for  the  continuance  and  partial  exten- 
sion of  the  Income  Tax,  to  be  followed  by  its  gradual  diminution 
and  final  abolition,  was  adopted  by  a  considerable  majority. 
That  the  prophecies  of  Mr.  Gladstone  regarding  the  condition 
in  which  the  country  would  be  in  1860  were  not  fulfilled,  was 
due  to  no  lack  of  foresight;  the  cause  of  the  increased  expendi- 
ture was  one  which,  depending  as  it  did  upon  the  action  of  other 
Governments,  could  not  be  foretold  by  human  agency.  The  cloud 
which  presaged  the  storm  of  the  next  year  was  not  visible  in 
1852  to  the  naked  eye. 

It  was  at  the  beginning  of  1853  that  it  first  became  certain  that  a 
European  war  was  the  only  means  of  deciding  between  the 
claims  of  the  Czar  and  the  unwillingness  of  the  Sultan  to  grant 
those  claims.  The  trouble  grew  out  of  the  desire  of  Russia  to 
protect  the  interests  of  the  Greek  Church  in  the  Holy  Land  ;  but 
the  original  cause  of  the  trouble  was  soon  lost  sight  of.  Various 
reasons  were  assigned  for  the  part  which  England  took  in  this 
conflict;  it  was  said  by  some  that  she  was  anxious  to  protect  Tur- 
key, solely  to  secure  the  safety  of  her  Indian  dominions  ;  it  was 
said  by  others  that  seeing  a  contest  between  a  strong  and  a  weak 
country,  she  was  prompted  by  chivalry  and  generosity  to  inter- 
fere in  behalf  of  the  weaker.  Such  were  the  extreme  views  of  the 
reason  for  war;  as  in  all  cases  of  the  kind,  neither  one  is  alto- 
gether true,  or  wholly  false  ;  but  the  real  reason  lies  midway  be- 
tween, and  partakes  of  both. 

It  was  not  until  the  middle  of  the  year  that  actual  hostilities 
began.  It  was  still  hoped,  as  late  as  October,  that  war  might  be 
averted,  though  the  Czar's  troops  had  taken  possession  of  Mol- 
davia and  Wallachia  three  months  before.  At  the  beginning  of 
October,  however,  the  Sultan  formally  declared  war.  The  popu- 
lar voice  in  England  was  altogether  against  the  Czar,  who  was 
looked  upon  as  menacing  the  liberties  of  Europe  by  his  efforts 
to  overide  Turkey.  The  Ministry  could  not  long  delay  decisive 
action  upon  the  question  of  whether  active  support  should  be 
given  to  the  Ottomans. 


The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents.  139 

The  question  had  doubtless  been  fully  discussed  at  those  mys- 
terious meetings  in  Downing  Street  of  which  no  minutes  are  ever 
kept;  but  there  seems  to  have  been  no  immediate  announcement 
of  policy  until  after  the  12th  of  that  month.  At  that  date,  Mr. 
Gladstone  went  to  Manchester,  to  attend  the  unvailing  of  a 
statue  to  Sir  Eobert  Peel.  The  country  was  in  a  state  of  great  ex- 
citement, and  meetings  and  conferences  for  and  against  the  war 
were  being  held  everywhere.  Under  such  circumstances,  the 
utterances  of  this  eloquent  member  of  the  Administration  were 
looked  for  with  the  keenest  expectation. 

His  speech  was  unequivocal  as  to  the  views  of  the  Government. 
Russia  threatened  to  override  all  the  other  Powers,  and  prove  a 
source  of  danger  to  the  rest  of  the  world  ;  and  the  overthrow  of 
the  Ottoman  Empire  must  be  a  blow  to  England,  as  well  as  to 
other  countries  But  the  Government  desired  peace,  if  possible; 
he  reminded  them  thut  the  intrigue,  delay  and  chicanery  which 
too  often  attend  negotiations  are  far  less  to  be  dreaded  than  war; 
and  rebuked  the  inconsiderate  impatience  of  those  who  looked 
only  at  the  meretricious  glory  which  a  war  might  bring.  To  save 
the  country  from  a  calamity  which  would  deprive  the  nation  of 
subsistence  and  arrest  the  operations  of  industry,  he  said,  the 
Ministry  "have  persevered  in  exercising  that  self-command  and 
self-restraint,  which  impatience  may  mistake  for  indifference,  fee- 
bleness, or  cowardice,  but  which  are  truly  the  crowning  greatness 
of  a  great  people,  and  do  not  evince  the  want  of  readiness  to 
vindicate,  when  the  time  comes,  the  honor  of  this  country."  He 
expressly  stated  that  the  Government  was  not  engaged  in  main- 
taining the  independence  and  integrity  of  the  Ottoman  Empire ; 
and  referring  to  the  anomalies  of  the  Eastern  Empire,  and  the 
probabilities  of  its  future,  disclaimed  all  wish  on  the  part  of  the 
British  Government  to  do  more  than  protect  the  interests  of  all 
by  curbing  the  ambition  of  one.  This  disclaimer,  coming  full 
twenty-five  years  before  the  date  of  the  Bulgarian  atrocities, 
shows  conclusively  that  some  of  his  critics  who  have  ventured 
statements  regarding  his  attitude  on  the  Eastern  question  have 
been  mistaken  in  the  premises  drawn  from  his  actions  in  1853. 

But  the  moderation  of  the  Ministers  was  not  met  by  a  similar 
feeling  on  the  part  of  the  people.  Their  voice  was  still  for  war, 
and  when,  after  many  endeavors  on  the  part  of  England  and  oth- 
er powers  to  negotiate  a  peace,  the  British  Government  declared 
war  against  Eussia,  the  popular  satisfaction  was  unbounded. 


140  The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents. 

Even  after  this  decisive  step  had  been  taken,  the  Powers  hesi- 
tated, and  expressed  their  willingness  to  enter  into  an  armistice 
at  once,  if  the  Czar  showed  any  inclination  to  settle  the  matter 
peaceably.  But  Nicholas  persisted  in  the  course  which  he  had 
marked  out  for  himself,  which  nothing  but  death  ended  for  him, 
and  only  defeat  terminated  for  his  successor  and  his  people. 

A  considerable  party  in  England  were  bitterly  opposed  to  the 
war,  and  a  deputation  from  the  Peace  Society  actually  went  to 
St.  Petersburg  to  interview  the  Czar.  As  Mr.  Molesworth  puts 
it,  Nicholas  "  had  already  decided  on  the  course  he  would  pur- 
sue, and  neither  imperial  nor  Quaker  remonstrances  could  turn 
him  from  it."  Prominent  among  the  advocates  of  peace  was  John 
Bright,  who  was  so  sternly  opposed  to  war  that,  even  after  it  had 
begun,  and  the  country  was  beginning  to  feel  the  distress  occas- 
ioned by  it,  he  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  measures  in- 
tended to  alleviate  that  distress.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  as  earnest- 
ly desirous  as  any  one  of  avoiding  the  horrors  which  hostilities 
would  bring  upon  the  country,  but  when  once  it  was  seen  to  be 
inevitable,  he  bent  all  his  energies  to  do  the  best  that  he  could 
under  the  circumstances.  Perhaps  Bright' s  course  was  the  more 
consistent,  especially  for  one  reared  among  the  non-combatant 
Quakers;  but  a  statesman  who  would  be  perfectly  consistent 
would  often  find  himself  in  the  wrong,  unless  he  possessed  om- 
nipotence to  mould  the  minds  and  direct  the  wills  of  men. 

Lord  Aberdeen  had  expressed  his  intention  of  resigning  if  a 
war  became  inevitable ;  but  the  whole  trouble  came  on  so  gradu- 
ally that  he  found  his  Government  involved  in  the  contest  before 
there  had  been  anything  which  should  give  warrant  for  that  step. 
Much  as  Mr.  Gladstone  desired  to  prevent  war,  if  possible,  even 
he  was  forced  to  see,  with  his  chief,  that  the  will  of  the  people 
must  be  obeyed.  It  was  not  the  Queen,  it  was  not  the  Ministry, 
it  was  not  the  House  of  Lords  or  of  Commons,  that  declared 
war  against  Russia  in  1853  ;  they  were  but  the  means  by  which 
the  people  of  Great  Britain  made  their  protest  against  the  over- 
whelming power  of  the  Czar  being  further  extended. 

War  had  been  declared,  and  the  Ministry  had  to  make  the  best 
of  it.  The  chief  burden  fell  upon  the  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer, who  saw  the  schemes  so  carefully  prepared  for  the  re- 
duction of  taxation  swept  away  at  one  breath.  The  surplus 
which  was  to  have  been  a  valuable  aid  in  reducing  the  Income 
Tax  must  be  diverted  from  that  use,  and  applied  to  warlike  pur- 


The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents. 


141 


poses  ;  the  Income  Tax,  the  Malt  Tax,  and  the  Spirit  Duties, 
must  all  be  increased,  with  no  prospect  of  their  reduction  for 
years  to  come.  But  with  a  courage  rarely  manifested  by  Finance 
Ministers  in  time  of  war,  when  the  resources  of  the  country  are 
always  crippled,  and  taxes  are  harder  than  ever  to  pay,  he  pro- 
posed to  pay  for  the  war  out  of  the  current  revenue,  provided 
that  not  more  than  ten  millions  sterling  would  be  required,  in 
addition  to  the  usual  expenditure.  Taxes  would  of  course  be 
increased,  but  at  the  close  of  the  war  the  country  would  be  free 
to  resume  the  course  of  prosperity  which  had  been  interrupted 


Bar  of  the  House. 


by  it,  clear  of  debt,  so  often  a  long  enduring  bitter  after-taste  of 
the  glory  that  may  have  been  acquired. 

Mr.  Disraeli  opposed  this  plan,  which  the  Prince-Consort  char- 
acterized as  "manly,  statesmanlike,  and  honest."  The  Tory  was 
opposed  to  the  increase  of  taxes,  but  would  rather  advocate  bor- 
rowing, by  which  means,  he  argued,  the  burden  of  the  war 
would  fall  less  heavily  upon  the  people,  the  expense  being  paid 
at  longer  intervals.  But  his  course,  which  ministers  have  too 
often  pursued  because  it  is  the  most  likely  to  secure  their  pop- 
ularity, was  not  approved  by  the  country  at  large.  The  people 


142  The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents. 

saw  the  wisdom  of  Gladstone's  plan,  and  it  was  everywhere 
endorsed.  What  was  of  more  immediate  importance,  as  afford- 
ing him  the  opportunity  of  putting  the  plan  into  practice,  the 
House  of  Commons  approved  it  by  a  large  majority. 

But  before  the  division  took  place,  there  were  some  bitter 
taunts  from  Mr.  Disraeli ;  and  his  language  was  such  on  one  oc- 
casion that  he  was  reminded  that  no  criticism  should  be  pro- 
nounced upon  the  ministerial  policy  unless  he  were  prepared  to 
propose  a  vote  of  no  confidence.  This  he  declined  to  do,  but  as- 
serted that,  while  he  should  not  vote  against  the  necessary  ap- 
propriations, being  bound  to  support  Her  Majesty  in  all  just 
and  necessary  wars,  he  was  not  prepared  to  admit  that  this  was  a 
necessary  war.  Had  the  Cabinet  been  united,  he  claimed,  it 
would  not  have  been  forced  upon  them  ;  but  it  was  a  Coalition 
Ministry,  and  that  act  detracted  from  its  strength  at  such  critical 
moments.  To  this  speech  Mr.  Gladstone  replied.  The  conclu- 
sion of  Mr.  Disraeli's  argument  he  denounced  as  illogical  and  re- 
creant; and  showed  that  the  reasons  which  he  gave  for  not  pro- 
posing a  vote  of  no  confidence  (the  lack  of  unity  of  opinion  re- 
garding Ihe  war,  which  he  alleged  was  the  case  among  the  Min- 
isters), was  the  very  reason  why  he  should  have  taken  that 
course.  The  remainder  of  his  speech  was  a  vindication  of  his 
policy,  and  an  appeal  to  be  sustained. 

Early  in  May  we  find  him  again  urging  the  necessity  of  pay- 
ing the  expenses  of  the  war  out  of  the  current  revenue,  and  de- 
nouncing that  attempt  to  conciliate  the  people,  which  Mr.  Dis- 
raeli had  made  by  promising  the  abolition  of  taxes  without  hav- 
ing made  any  provision  for  fulfilling  his  word.  He  rehearsed 
the  difficulties  through  which  the  Napoleonic  wars  had  been  car- 
ried on,  and  recalled  to  their  minds  how  enormous  were  the  du- 
ties which  were  imposed  by  Pitt,  and  how  cheerfully  the  burden 
was  borne  ;  he  reminded  them  that  even  the  war  had  not  inter- 
rupted the  prosperity  of  the  country  to  any  considerable  ex- 
tent, as  the  constant  increase  of  the  imports  showed;  and  ex- 
plained his  plans  with  a  minuteness  which  need  not  here  be  im- 
itated. The  speech  took  the  chiefs  of  the  Opposition  by  sur- 
rpise,  accustomed  as  they  were  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  powers;  and 
the  division  showed  an  unusually  large  majority  for  the  Ministry. 

A  few  days  later,  Mr.  Disraeli  made  yet  another  effort  to 
arouse  the  feeling  of  the  House  against  Mr.  Gladstone's  admin- 
istration of  the  finances.  Inaccurate  and  deceptive  statements, 


The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents.  143 

ho  said,  had  been  made  in  successive  budgets,  fallacious  estimates 
given  of  the  cost  of  the  war,  and  delusive  announcements  made 
regarding  the  aids  that  would  be  required  to  meet  the  growing 
charges  iipon  the  revenue.  The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
was  boldly  accused  of  incompetence,  not  only  in  one  instance, 


Lard  Aberdeen. 


but  in  many.  Mr.  Gladstone  replied  to  each  of  these  charges  in 
turn,  his  speech  followed  closely  by  those  who  were  in  sym- 
pathy with  him  j  and  on  the  division  the  majority  for  the  Min- 
istry caused  the  collapse  of  all  efforts  to  oppose  the  budget. 


144  The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents. 

Mr.  Disraeli  had  not  yet  given  up  his  opposition  to  the  gov- 
ernment, however,  but  toward  the  end  of  July  again  severely  at- 
tacked the  policy  of  the  Ministry.  Lord  John  Eussell  had  moved 
a  vote  of  credit  of  three  million  sterling  for  the  expenses  of  the 
war,  and  this  became,  by  the  opposition  of  Mr.  Disraeli,  a  vote 
of  confidence.  A  great  debate  was  confidently  expected,  but  the 
courage  of  the  Opposition  gave  way  as  the  time  approached,  and 
they  dared  not  imperil  the  existence  of  the  Ministry  at  such  a 
juncture.  The  amendment  requesting  Her  Majesty  not  to  pro- 
rogue Parliament  until  the  matter  was  settled  was  negatived 
without  a  division  and  Parliament  was  prorogued  Aug.  12th. 

There  were  some  hopes  of  a  peaceful  settlement  of  the  difficul- 
ty at  the  beginning  of  1854  ;  but  though  Austria  and  Prussia  had 
promised  their  decided  support,  their  defection  when  the  time 
came  for  such  action  left  matters  as  they  were  at  first.  The  war 
had  not  yet  begun  in  earnest,  but  by  the  middle  of  the  year 
there  was  no  longer  any  hope  of  peace.  A  combined  army  of 
English,  French  and  Turks  marched  upon  Sebastopol  early  in 
September,  there  to  begin  the  siege  so  memorable  in  the  history 
of  the  war. 

But  though  the  war  continued  as  popular  as  ever,  there  were 
some  symptoms  that  showed,  at  this  very  time,  that  the  Ministry 
which  had  declared  the  war  was  beginning  to  lose  its  popularity. 
There  were  many  reasons  why  such  a  Cabinet  should  lose  its 
strength.  In  the  first  place,  its  very  constitution  forbade  the 
hope  of  a  long  continuance  in  that  harmony  which  is  so  neces- 
sary to  a  Government.  In  regard  to  this,  there  have  been  two 
statements  made,  which  could  scarcely  be  reconciled,  were  they 
both  given  without  qualification  ;  and  it  is  difficult  to  decide 
which  is  the  better  authority.  Mr.  Martin,  the  author  of  the 
Life  of  the  Prince  Consort,  a  biography  for  which  the  Queen 
herself  furnished  many  of  the  materials,  and  for  the  statements 
in  which  she  is  really  responsible,  the  work  having  been  pre- 
pared under  her  supervision,  says  positively  that  no  cordial  un- 
animity existed  between  the  Peelite  members  of  the  cabinet  and 
their  colleagues;  Mr.  Gladstone  denies  that  there  was  any  dis- 
cord among  the  Ministers ;  but,  adds  the  right  honorable  gentle- 
man, in  a  clause  which  serves  to  reconcile  this  denial  with  the 
affirmation  of  the  other,  "rifts  there  were  without  doubt  in  the 
imposing  structure,  but  they  were  due  entirely  to  individual  views 
or  pretensions,  and  in  no  way  to  sectional  antagonism."  When 


The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents.  145 

we  consider  that  Palmerston  was  in  this  Ministry,  we  can  see 
very  clearly  that  these  personal  differences  of  opinion  might  be 
made  a  serious  matter. 

Whatever  was  the  true  extent  of  these  differences,  the  fact  that 
there  were  such  was  speedily  noised  abroad,  and  perhaps  much 
more  made  of  the  report  than  was  warranted  by  the  facts.  At 
any  rate,  it  was  generally  believed  that  there  were  serious  dis- 
agreements among  the  Ministers,  and  this  gave  rise  to  a  feeling 
of  uncertainty  in  the  House  of  Commons.  The  followers  of  the 
Government,  says  Mr.  Martin,  did  not  hesitate  to  attack  the 
Prime  Minister  openly  in  the  House;  nor  was  he  always  sup- 
ported as  warmly  by  his  colleagues  as  the  absent  Premier  ex- 
pects to  be. 

The  defeat  of  the  ministry  was  delayed  for  some  time  by  the 
necessity  of  action  upon  a  secondary  matter  connected  with  the 
conduct  of  the  war.  This  was  the  management  of  the  hospitals, 
which  were  grossly  neglected  by  those  in  charge  of  them.  An 
ample  supply  of  medical  and  other  stores  had  been  sent  out  from 
England,  but  they  lay  rotting  in  the  holds  of  the  vessels  which 
had  carried  them  out,  or  stored  away  in  places  where  they  were 
not  wanted.  The  men  were  simply  dying  of  exhaustion,  while 
provisions  had  been  despatched  in  abundance.  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances, Miss  Florence  Nightingale,  who  had  become  well- 
known  in  London  for  her  enlightened,  skillful  and  self-denying 
benevolence,  was  induced  to  go  out  to  take  charge  of  the  hospi- 
tals;  an  almost  dictatorial  authority,  which  could  override  all 
red-tapeism,  being  given  her.  Under  her  management,  chaos  was 
reduced  to  order,  and  the  wounded  and  sick  received  the  care 
of  which  they  were  so  sorely  in  need. 

Parliament  was  called  together  shortly  before  Christmas,  and 
after  a  session  lasting  eleven  days,  adjourned  for  a  month.  But 
in  this  short  session  it  accomplished  more  business  than  had  ever 
been  dispatched  within  a  similar  period,  in  the  memory  of  living 
man.  The  most  important  measure  brought  forward  was  per- 
haps that  providing  for  the  enlistment  of  foreign  soldiers.  This 
provoked  a  keen  debate  upon  the  war  and  the  Ministry's  con- 
duct of  it.  Mr.  Bright  maintained  that  the  English  were  fight- 
ing in  a  hopeless  cause  and  for  a  worthless  ally ;  Mr.  Disraeli  an- 
nounced that  he  should  oppose  the  measure  at  every  stage  j  and 
painted  the  situation  at  the  Crimea  in  the  darkest  colors.  The 
course  of  the  Ministry  was  defended  bv  Lord  John  Eussell  and 
10 


146  The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents. 

Lord  Palmerston.     Similar  attacks  were  made  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  and  Lord  Aberdeen  had  all  he  could  do  to  answer  them. 

When  Parliament  met  at  the  beginning  of  1855,  Mr.  Roebuck 
gave  formal  notice  that  he  should  move  for  the  appointment  of 
a  select  committee  to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  the  army  be- 
fore Sebastopol,  and  into  the  conduct  of  those  departments  of  the 
Government  whose  duty  it  was  to  minister  to  the  wants  of  the 
army.  This  was  a  direct  challenge  to  the  Government.  Lord 
John  Russell,  convinced  that  the  Ministry  could  not  stand  before 
such  an  attack,  tendered  his  resignation  at  once.  This  was  look- 
ed upon  as  partaking  something  of  the  nature  of  cowardice;  he 
should  have  braved  out  the  storm  with  them,  thought  his  collea- 
gues ;  and  one  of  them,  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  offered  to  make 
himself  the  scapegoat  for  the  Ministry  ;  an  offer  which  was  not 
entirely  without  reason,  as  he  was  the  Secretary  of  War.  After 
much  discussion,  however,  it  was  resolved  that  the  remaining 
members  of  the  cabinet  should  Lold  together  as  long  as  the  House 
of  Commons  would  permit.  Mr.  Roebuck's  motion  came  up  in 
due  time,  and  the  Minister  of  war,  Mr.  Herbert,  attempted  to 
stem  the  tide  by  the  assertion  that  the  existing  evils  had  been 
greatly  overrated,  and  that  many  improvements  had  already 
taken  place.  But  the  effect  which  this  mild  speech  might  possi- 
bly have  had  was  totally  lost  when  the  reply  to  it  was  heard. 
This  was  a  speech  by  Mr.  Stafford,  who  told  of  the  things  that 
he  had  himself  seen ;  and  excepting  from  censure  Miss  Nightin- 
gale and  her  assistants,  drew  such  a  picture  of  suffering  and 
neglect  as  could  not  be  equalled  by  the  imagination. 

To  this  speech  Mr.  Gladstone  was  the  one  to  reply.  If  the  Op- 
position had  expected  the  resignation  of  Lord  John  Russell  would 
be  followed  by  that  of  his  colleagues,  this  address  gave  them  dis- 
tinctly to  understand  that  they  were  mistaken.  After  giving 
some  short  history  of  the  defection  which  had  so  recently  taken 
place,  not  without  courteous  allusion  to  the  encomium  which  Lord 
John  had  recently  bestowed  upon  him,  the  speaker  proceeded  to 
characterize  a  Ministry  which  could  resign  under  such  circum- 
stances, or  without  a  direct  intimation  from  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. If  by  thus  resigning  they  shrank  from  a  judgment  of 
the  House  upon  their  past  acts,  what  sort  of  epitaph  should  be 
written  over  their  remains  ?  He  himself  would  write  it  thus: 

"Here  lie  the  dishonored  ashes  of  a  Ministry  which  found 
England  at  peace  and  left  it  at  war,  which  was  content  to  enjoy 


The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents. 


147 


the  emoluments  of  office  and  to  wield  the  scepter  of  power  so 
long  as  no  man  had  the  courage  to  question  their  existence. 
They  saw  the  storm  gathering  over  the  country ;  they  heard  the 
agonizing  accounts  which  were  almost  daily  received  of  the 
state  of  the  sick  and  wounded  in  the  East.  These  things  did  not 
move  them.  But  so  soon  as  the  Honorable  Member  for  Sheffield 
raised  his  hand  to  point  the  thunderbolt,  they  became  conscience 
stricken  with  a  sense  of  guilt,  and,  hoping  to  escape  punishment, 
they  ran  away  from  duty/' 

This  rebuke,  strangely  at  variance  with  the  studied  courtesy 
which  custom  obliged  him  to  use  in  his  direct  reference  to  the 
man  who  had  run  away 
from  duty,  was  received 
with  tumultuous  cheers 
by  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  House.  When  the 
excitement  had  subsided, 
Mr.  Gladstone  proceeded. 
He  showed  conclusively 
that  there  had  been  exag- 
gerations as  to  the  state 
of  the  army;  and  that 
matters  were  improving, 
as  Mr.  Herbert  had  al- 
ready told  them.  The 
adoption  of  Mr.  Roebuck's 
motion  would  paralyze 
the  Government,  and 
throw  things  back  into 
that  very  state  of  chaotic 
confusion  from  which 
they  were  just  beginning 
to  emerge.  The  speech 
was  a  powerful  one,  and 


Sidney  Herbert. 


produced  a  telling  effect  upon  the  House ;  but  the  advantage 
thus  gained  was  far  from  being  sufficient  for  the  needs  of  the 
Ministry.  Mr.  Disraeli  attacked  the  war  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment and  announced  that  he  should  be  obliged  to  give  his  vote 
against  "  a  deplorable  administration  ;"  Lord  John  Bussell  at- 
tempted to  justify  his  course  in  resigning,  and  Lord  Palmerston 
made  an  energetic  and  brilliant  defense  of  the  Government;  but 


148  The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents. 

the  tide  had  set  too  strongly  against  the  Coalition,  and  no  elo- 
quence could  save  it. 

"Every  one  knows,"  says  Justin  McCarthy,  "what  a  scene  us- 
ually takes  place  when  a  Ministry  is  defeated  in  the  House  of 
Commons — cheering  again  and  again  renewed,  counter  cheers  of 
defiance,  wild  exultation,  vehement  indignation,  a  whole  whirl- 
pool of  emotions  seething  in  that  little  hall  in  St.  Stephen's." 
Such  is  the  ordinary  scene,  as  described  by  one  who  has  fre- 
quently been  a  participant;  but  this  was  decidedly  extraordin- 
ary. When  the  result  of  the  division  was  announced,  says 
Molesworth,  "the  House  seemed  to  be  surprised  and  almost 
stunned  by  its  own  act;  there  was  no  cheering;  but  for  a  few 
moments  a  dead  silence,  which  was  followed  by  a  burst  of  de- 
risive laughter."  Never  before  had  a  Ministry  fallen  by  so  de- 
cisive a  vote;  the  vote  in  favor  of  the  motion  was  three  hundred 
and  five;  against  it,  one  hundred  and  forty-eight.  In  other 
words,  what  was  virtually  a  vote  of  no  confidence  showed  that 
the  Ministers  could  not  command  the  suffrage  of  one-third  the 
members  of  the  House. 

The  resignation  of  Lord  Aberdeen  and  his  colleagues  was  an- 
nounced in  the  House  of  Commons  Feb.  1st,  1855.  Speculation 
had  already  been  rife  as  to  the  next  Prime  Minister.  The  Queen 
thought  to  answer  the  question  which  was  in  all  men's  minds  by 
sending  for  Lord  Derby,  thus  recognizing  the  principle  that  in 
time  of  war  the  Conservative  party  is  naturally  the  leader  of  the 
national  councils.  Lord  Derby  at  once  undertook  the  task,  and 
proceeded  to  form  his  cabinet.  The  one  man  who  was  essential  to 
it  was  Lord  Palmerston;  in  spite  of  the  faults  which  he  made  no 
effort  to  conceal,  and  which  made  it  so  difficult  for  both  super- 
iors and  subordinates  to  get  along  with  him,  he  had  some  very 
essential  powers  of  mind  in  these  troublous  times.  He  certainly 
knew  his  own  mind,  and  saw  his  way  clear  before  him  ;  he  pos- 
sessed a  fund  of  common  sense,  which  was  not  to  be  baffled  by 
those  artificial  beliefs  that  have  grown  up  in  the  minds  of  the 
world;  when  he  was  Home  Secretary,  for  instance,  the  Presby- 
tery of  Scotland  had  sent  to  ask  him  whether  it  would  not  be 
advisable,  in  view  of  the  cholera  which  was  threatened,  to  ap- 
point a  national  fast  day  ;  Palmerston  replied,  with  all  the  grav- 
ity which  the  occasion  demanded,  that  the  laws  which  Provi- 
dence has  ordained  for  the  government  of  this  world  require  us 
to  avoid  such  diseases  by  rigid  attention  to  the  cleanliness  of  our 


THE    LAST  SPEECH    IN   THE   HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 
AS   PRIME   MINISTER 


The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents.  149 

habitations  and  their  surroundings,  and  advised  them  that  if  the 
cities  were  not  kept  in  proper  sanitary  condition,  all  the  fasting 
and  prayer  would  not  suffice  against  the  dreaded  scourge;  and 
there  are  many  instances  of  such  answers,  which,  while  they  are 
based  on  truth  and  good  sense,  were  yet  offensive  to  the  persons 
to  whom  they  were  addressed,  and  often  shocked  the  minds  of 
others.  Lord  Palmerston  was  clear-sighted  and  far-sighted;  but 
in  that  involuntary  adjustment  of  the  mental  sight  to  the  dis- 
tant object  which  he  was  engaged  in  examining,  his  eye  failed  to 
take  in  those  particulars  which  require  a  shorter  range  of  vis- 
ion. In  ridding  himself  of  prejudice,  he  had  unconsciously,  and 
perhaps  unavoidably,  done  violence  to  those  sympathetic  facul- 
ties which  enable  us  to  judge  the  acts  of  others  most  equitably, 
by  finding  what  their  motives  most  probably  were.  Palmerston 
never  allowed  for  any  difference  between  himself  and  others; 
were  he  in  a  given  position,  such  an  act  could  only  be  dictated  by 
such  a  motive  ;  that  motive  therefore  must  be  the  one  which  act- 
uated the  man  who  had  decided  upon  that  course.  His  lev- 
ity was  not  intended  to  be  offensive  to  the  men  whom  he  an- 
swered ;  he  could  not  understand  how  it  could  be  so  ;  and  thus 
he  kept  on  considering  gravely  those  questions  which  were  sub- 
mitted to  him,  and  answering  them  jocosely. 

But  in  spite  of  all  the  offense  that  he  had  given,  both  by  word 
and  action,  this  man  was  so  essential  to  the  stability  of  a  Con- 
servative Ministry  that  Disraeli  agreed  to  waixre  all  claim  to  the 
leadership  of  the  House  of  Commons,  if  that  would  induce  the 
most  eminent  of  Irish  peers  to  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  Derbyad- 
ministration.  While  the  answer  of  Lord  Palmerston  was  still 
awaited,  or  perhaps  at  the  same  time  that  the  offer  had  been 
made  to  him,  Lord  Derby  tendered  places  in  his  cabinet  to  Mr. 
Gladstone  and  Mr.  Herbert,  the  late  Minister  of  War.  These 
three  members  of  the  late  Government  intimated  to  Lord  Derby 
that  they  could  only  extend  to  him  an  independent  support. 
That  nobleman  accordingly  waited  upon  her  Majesty,  and  inform- 
ed her  of  the  result  of  his  efforts. 

"What  is  an  independent  support?"  asked  the  Queen,  to 
whom  the  phrase  was  probably  new,  and  certainly  seemed  con- 
tradictory. 

"  Madam,"  replied  Derby,  "an  independent  support  is,  like 
an  independent  Member  of  Parliament,  one  that  cannot  be  de- 
pended upon." 


150  The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents. 

This  explanation  seems  to  have  made  the  matter  clear  to  the 
royal  mind,  and  Derby  was  relieved  from  the  task  to  which  he 
proved  unequal.  In  accordance  with  that  custom  which  pre- 
scribes that  the  tender  of  this  office  should  be  made  to  members 
of  the  great  parties  in  alternation,  Lord  John  Russell  was  sum- 
moned to  the  Queen's  assistance.  But  his  resignation  from  a  Min- 
istry which  was  in  imminent  danger  had  brought  discredit  up- 
on him  in  the  eyes  of  his  followers,  and  he  was  obliged  to  con- 
fess his  inability.  There  was  but  one  other  in  whose  experience 
and  ability  there  was  sufficient  confidence  to  warrant  his  being 
placed  at  the  head  of  aifairs,  and  the  post  of  the  First  Lord  of 
the  Treasury  was  tendered  to  Yiscount  Palmerston. 

On  February  6th,  the  announcement  was  formally  made  that 
Lord  Palmerston  had  formed  his  Ministry.  In  this  Cabinet, 
most  of  the  members  of  the  Aberdeen  Government  were  their 
own  successors  ;  the  chief  changes  were  the  substitution  of  Pal- 
mcrston's  name  for  that  of  Lord  Aberdeen,  and  of  Lord  Pan- 
mure's  for  the  Duke  of  Newcastle.  Mr.  Gladstone  retained  the 
post  of  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  The  appointment  of  Lord 
Panmure,  like  the  accession  of  Palmerston  himself  to  power> 
argufed  a  much  more  vigorous  conduct  of  the  war ;  for  both  of 
these  men  were  ardent  advocates  of  the  struggle  in  the  Bast, 
and  replaced  men  who  were  desirous  of  peace  though  at  great 
cost.  Palmerston,  indeed,  with  his  accustomed  independence  of 
action,  had  spoken  in  favor  of  war,  and  had  caused  those  journ- 
als whose  utterances  he  largely  controlled,  to  advocate  it,  even 
while  the  Ministry  of  which  he  was  a  member  deprecated  a  re- 
sort to  actual  hostilities.  This  was  essentially  a  War  Ministry. 

The  Roebuck  motion,  which  had  caused  the  resignation  of 
Lord  Aberdeen,  had  been  carried,  as  we  have  already  recorded; 
and  the  committee  of  inquiry  for  which  it  called  had  been  ap- 
pointed. The  new  Ministry  was  thus  placed  in  a  situation  of 
some  difficulty  at  the  very  beginning  of  its  existence.  Lord  Pal- 
merston was  of  the  opinion  that  the  Government  could  not  re- 
sist the  investigation  demanded  by  so  large  a  majority  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  by  the  whole  people  as  well;  some  of 
the  members  of  his  Cabinet  were  resolutely  opposed  to  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  committee  vested  with  such  powers.  The  taking 
of  this  matter  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Government  was  establish- 
ing a  precedent  which  in  the  future,  no  matter  what  the  circum- 
stances, it  would  be  impossible  to  set  aside.  Other  objections 


The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents.  151 

there  were,  but  this  was  the  one  advanced  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  and 
the  one  which  insists  upon  the  constitutional  principle  involved 
with  the  most  earnestness;  the  others  concerning  themselves 
mainly  with  the  objections  to  the  committee  on  less  general 
grounds.  Lord  Palmerston  thought  it  would  be  sufficient  to 
change  the  personnel  of  the  committee,  and  substitute  mem- 
bers selected  by  the  Government;  Mr.  Roebuck  accepted  the 
altered  list,  but  the  dissatisfied  Ministers  declined  to  do  so. 
In  consequence  of  this  disagreement  with  the  head  of  the 
Government,  three  of  the  ablest  and  most  distinguished  mem- 
bers of  the  Cabinet  resigned  their  positions,  and  their  places 
were  at  once  filled  by  members  of  the  political  party  to  which 
the  Premier  belonged.  Sir  James  Graham,  Mr.  Gladstone 
and  Mr.  Herbert,  were  the  retiring  officials,  and  were  suc- 
ceeded in  their  respective  positions  by  Sir  Charles  "Wood,  Sir 
Cornewall  Lewis,  and  Lord  John  Russell.  "The  Ministry  of  All 
the  Talents,"  as  the  Coalition  Cabinet,  whose  downfall  we  have 
thus  witnessed,  was  not  untruly  termed,  had  been  succeeded  by 
a  Government  in  which  the  only  talent  recognized  was  that  found 
within  the  boundaries  of  the  Liberal  party. 

At  the  time  of  his  appointment  to  this  office,  Lord  John  Rus- 
sell was  on  his  way  to  Yienna,  as  plenipotentiary  of  the  British 
Government  in  a  Conference  of  the  Great  Powers  for  the  settle- 
ment of  the  trouble  without  further  fighting.  Shortly  afterward, 
there  occurred  another  event,  which,  with  the  beginning  of  nego- 
tiations at  Yienna,  made  an  early  treaty  of  peace  appear  among 
the  probabilities.  This  was  the  sudden  death  of  the  Czar,  March 
2,  1855.  Nicholas  had  stated  his  intentions  with  regard  to  Tur- 
key with  a  frankness  almost  phenomenal  in  the  history  of  diplo- 
macy;  and  had  all  but  made  direct  proposals  to  England  to  di- 
vide that  country  between  the  British  and  Russian  Empires. 
England  refused  ;  but  he  was  not  daunted,  and  proceeded  to  car- 
ry out  his  policy,  which  had  only  changed  by  the  omission  of 
England  from  the  list  of  proposed  beneficiaries,  by  attacking  the 
Turks.  His  son  and  successor,  Alexander  III.,  was  of  a  different 
temper  ;  it  was  thought  that  ho  would  be  more  ready  to  accede 
to  proposals  for  peace,  as  it  was  well  known  that  he  was  of  a 
more  liberal  and  pacific  nature  than  his  father.  But  "scratch  a 
Russian  and  you'll  find  a  Tartar,"  says  the  proverb ;  and  when 
it  was  once  aroused,  there  was  as  much  of  the  Tartar  in  Alexan- 
der as  there  had  been  in  Nicholas  ;  and  the  war  was  prosecuted 


152  The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents. 

under  the  son  as  vigorously  as  it  had  been  under  the  father. 

Nor  was  this  hope  the  only  one  that  failed.  The  Conference  of 
Vienna  broke  up,  without  having  accomplished  its  object,  as 
Russia  would  not  yield  that  one  of  the  famous  "  Four  Points" 
which  required  her  to  limit  her  naval  force  in  the  Black  Sea. 
Austria  finally  made  propositions  which  the  representatives  of 
England  and  France  regarded  as  affording  a  prospect  of  the  set- 
tlement of  the  case,  and  accepted  for  the  Governments  which  they 
represented,  subject,  of  course,  to  ratification  at  the  hands  of  the 
supreme  power  in  the  State;  but  unfortunately  for  them,  these 
propositions  were  a  virtual  surrender  of  the  chief  points  for 
which  England  and  France  had  been  contending ;  the  home 
authorities  refused  the  ratification  on  which  they  had  relied,  and 
the  plenipotentiaries  themselves  sunk  very  low  in  public  opinion. 
The  French  Minister  was  obliged  to  resign  the  position  which 
he  had  held  for  some  years  ;  and  although  the  denouement  was 
delayed  for  some  time  in  the  case  of  Eussell,  it  was  this  which 
ultimately  caused  his  resignation  from  Palmerston's  Ministry. 

The  failure  of  the  Conference  to  restore  peace  was  a  great  dis- 
appointment to  the  English  people,  who  looked  with  much  dis- 
favor upon  the  fact  that  concessions  had  been  made  with  this  ob- 
ject. The  war  was  still  popular  with  the  great  majority  of  the 
people  ;  and  it  was  intolerable  to  think  that  England  had  offer- 
ed peace,  and  had  the  offer  refused.  This  feeling  was  reflected 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  as  was  to  be  expected  ;  and  the  Min- 
isters were  frequently  attacked  by  members  of  both  Houses,  for 
the  uncertain  policy  which  they  had  adopted.  Mr.  Disraeli 
brought  forward  a  motion  condemning  this  fault,  and  supported 
it  in  a  speech  three  hours  long.  A  member  of  the  Opposition 
had  affirmed  formally  that  the  propositions  of  Russia  were  reas- 
onable, and  that  some  blame  attached  to  the  Government  for  re- 
fusing them;  and  Mr.  Disraeli  denounced,  with  his  accustomed 
vigor,  this  combination  of  war  and  diplomacy,  at  the  head  of 
which  was  an  embassador  distinguished  for  his  inflammatory  de- 
nunciations of  Russia,  and  totally  incompetent  to  negotiate  a 
peace. 

When  Mr.  Disraeli  made  one  of  his  fierce  attacks  upon  the 
ruling  party,  it  had  by  this  time  become  an  established  thing 
that  Mr.  Gladstone  was  to  answer  him;  and  the  late  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer  engaged  in  the  congenial  task  upon  this  occas- 
ion, The  Fgur  Points,  which  had  sometime  before  been  pro- 


The  Ministry  All  the  Talents.  153 

posed  as  the  basis  for  negotiations,  had  been  so  distasteful  to 
Kussia  that  she  had  refused  to  consider  them  at  all  in  August, 
1854  ;  but  the  events  in  the  Crimea  had  been  such  that  in  the  fol- 
lowing December  she  had  been  brought  to  accept  them  for  con- 
sideration. This  proved  that  the  expedition  to  the  Crimea  had 
not  been  wholly  unsuccessful.  When  the  Four  Points  cama  to  be 
considered,  he  called  their  attention  to  the  present  state  of  af- 
fairs. Russia  had  acceded  to  the  First  and  Second,  which  abol- 
ished the  Russian  Protectorate  over  the  Principalities  of  Wal- 
lachia,  Moldavia  and  Servia,  and  placed  these  provinces  under  a 
collective  guarantee  of  the  Powers,  provided  for  the  navigation 
of  the  Danube  to  be  freed  from  obstacles  at  its  mouth  and  regu- 
lated by  the  principles  established  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna. 
The  Third  Point  was  intended  to  put  an  end  to  the  preponder- 
ance of  Russia  in  the  Black  sea,  and  this  was  the  one  which  that 
Power  would  not  yield.  The  Fourth,  which  related  to  the  sub- 
ject which  had  nominally  caused  the  war,  the  treatment  of  the 
believers  in  one  form  of  religion  by  those  who  held  to  another, 
the  speaker  declared  that  Russia  would  grant  at  any  time.  Nor 
was  this  all ;  the  great  Northern  nation  had  already  acceded  to 
a  portion  of  the  demands  included  in  the  Third  Point,  and  had 
agreed  that  Turkey  might  have  the  power  of  opening  and  shut- 
ting the  straits.  The  political  purposes  of  the  war  had  been 
completely  gained,  he  said,  although  the  adverse  party  had  not 
been  prostrated,  and  he  felt  that  ho  would  be  incurring  a  fearful 
responsibility  if  he  did  not  raise  his  voice  to  beseech  the  House 
to  pause  before  they  persevered  in  a  war  so  bloody  and  so  dec- 
imating, while  there  was  a  chance  of  returning  to  a  condition  of 
happy  and  honorable  peace.  If  the  war  was  continued  solely  for 
the  sake  of  military  success,  "let  the  House  look  at  this  senti- 
ment with  the  eye  of  reason,  and  it  will  appear  immoral,  inhu- 
man and  unchristian.  If  the  war  is  continued  in  orderto  obtain 
military  glory,  we  shall  tempt  the  justice  of  Him  in  whose  hands 
is  the  fate  of  armies,  to  launch  upon  us  His  wrath." 

But  although  his  eloquence  aroused  the  House  to  admiration,  it 
could  do  no  more.  The  new  Government  was  still  too  strong  to  be 
carried  away  on  the  tide  of  an  Opposition  speech;  and  Lord 
John  Russell,  who  replied  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  was  on  the  popular 
side.  Russia  was  regarded  as  a  dangerous  enemy,  whose 
schemes  of  aggrandizement  must  be  checked  while  it  was  pos- 
sible, and  before  there  could  be  security  for  Turkey  or  Hurope. 


164 


The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents. 


Mr.  Gladstone's  speech  excited  wide-spread  comment,  which 
was  not  by  any  means  universally  favorable.  It  was  regarded  as 
lukewarm  in  the  English  cause;  the  Prince-Consort  stigmatized  it 
as  apt  to  give  a  wrong  opinion  as  to  the  determination  of  the  nation 
to  support  the  Queen  in  the  war,  and  render  all  chance  of  ob- 
taining an  honorable  peace  without  still  greater  sacrifices  of 


J.  A.  Roebuck. 

blood  and  treasure  impossible,  by  giving  new  hopes  and  spirit  to 
the  enemy.  Sir  E.  Bulwer-Lytton  spoke  on  the  subject  in  the 
House,  and  was  vehemently  cheered  when  he  reproached  Mr. 
Gladstone  with  desiring  to  make  of  no  avail  the  blood  which 
had  been  shed  in  this  cause.  Lord  Palmerston  and  Lord  John 
Russell  were  cheered  to  the  echo  when  they  announced  that  the 
war  would  be  vigorously  prosecuted. 
A  vote  of  wo  confidence,  based  upon  the  conduct  of  the  repre- 


The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents.  155 

sentative  of  the  Government  in  the  Congress  of  Yionna,  was 
proposed  by  Sir.  E.  Bulwer-Lytton.  The  day  fixed  for  the  con- 
sideration of  this  motion  was  July  16th  j  but  on  the  13th  Lord 
John  Russell  again  resigned  his  seat  in  a  Cabinet  whose  position 
was  challenged  by  the  Opposition.  The  announcement  of  this, 
on  the  day  fixed  for  the  debate,  caused  the  withdrawal  of  the 
motion.  There  was  a  debate  of  considerable  interest  upon  this 
motion  even  after  it  had  been  withdrawn,  the  interest  turning 
chiefly  upon  the  personal  references  which  were  made  to  two 
great  men  of  that  day  by  two  great  men  of  our  own.  Mr.  Dis- 
raeli attacked  Lord  Palmerston,  whom  he  accused  of  machina- 
tions intended  to  get  Lord  John  out  of  office  ;  and  declared  that 
the  Premier  had  addressed  the  House  that  very  night  in  a  tone 
and  with  accents  which  showed  that  if  the  honor  and  interests  of 
England  were  much  longer  entrusted  to  him,  the  one  would  be 
tarnished  and  the  other  betrayed.  Such  was  the  language  which 
might  be  used  in  the  House  of  Commons,  thirty  years  or  more 
ago.  Mr.  Gladstone  complained  that  Lord  John  had  condemned 
propositions  which  were  virtually  the  same  with  those  which,  as 
Minister  Plenipotentiary,  he  had  accepted  at  Vienna.  Differing 
from  Mr.  Disraeli,  who  accused  the  Government  of  inconsistency 
in  having  at  one  time  been  disposed  to  accept  these  terms  of 
peace,  yet  he  blamed  them  for  now  abruptly  closing  the  hope  of 
an  honorable  peace. 

The  committee  which  had  been  appointed  upon  Mr.  Roebuck's 
motion  reported  about  the  middle  of  summer,  and  Mr.  Roebuck 
made  a  motion  which  was  virtually  a  vote  of  censure  upon  every 
member  of  the  Aberdeen  Cabinet.  His  speech,  however,  was  re- 
garded as  an  extreme  one,  and  the  proposition  to  postpone  the 
matter  for  six  months,  really  a  condemnation  of  the  speaker's 
position,  was  carried  by  an  overwhelming  majority  of  those 
members  present. 

The  war  debates  continued  throughout  the  brief  remainder  of 
the  session.  Mr.  Gladstone  frequently  spoke  to  urge  peace,  say- 
ing Turkey  was  such  an  ally  to  England  in  this  war  as  Anchises 
was  to  ^Eneas  in  the  flight  from  Troy ;  and  predicting  the  grad- 
ual falling  off  of  other  Powers,  if  England  persisted  in  maintain- 
ing a  war,  the  virtual  advantages  of  which  had  been  already 
gained. 

But  the  peace  for  which  he  was  pleading  was  about  to  come, 
though  cannon,  and  not  words,  were  the  instruments  by  which  it 


156  The  Ministry  All  the  Talents. 

was  brought  about.  The  "  August  City,"  Sebastopol,  had  been 
considered  impregnable;  and  a  city  which  will  stand  a  siege  of 
eleven  months  may  well  be  considered  as  nearly  so  as  fortress- 
es can  be  made  by  human  hands  and  natural  advantages.  The 
siege  had  begun  in  October,  1854;  and  had  lasted,  with  little 
success  on  the  part  of  the  allied  forces,  until  the  following  Sep- 
tember. It  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  the  central  point  of  in- 
terest; the  war  could  not  end  until  Sebastopol  was  taken  ;  and 
the  excitement  was  unbounded  when  it  was  known  that  the  MaJ- 
akoff  and  Redan  had  been  taken  by  simultaneous  attacks  by  the 
French  and  British.  Following  fast  upon  this  announcement, 
came  the  news  that  the  Russians  had  retreated;  the  war  wa-s 
over. 

Negotiations  for  peace  were  immediately  entered  into  ;  and  a 
treaty  was  concluded  at  Paris  in  the  following  March. 


MR.  GLADSTONE   CUTTING  TREES  AT  HAWARDEN 


CHAPTER    VI. 

PROGRESSING  TOWARDS  LIBERALISM. 

Treaty  Following  the  Crimean  War— Peace  Concluded  at  Paris — Agitation  Con- 
cerning the  Continental  Press— National  Education— Bill  Providing  for  the 
Enlistment  of  Foreigners — 111  Feeling  Between  England  and  America — 
Criticism  Upon  the  Government's  Foreign  Policy — Mr.  Gladstone's  Alliance 
with  His  Rival — Government  Losing  Strength  in  the  House  of  Commons — 
Majority  Against  the  Government — Attempt  to  Assassinate  the  Emperor 
of  the  French — Remarkable  Peroration  by  Mr.  Gladstone — Formation  of  a 
Kew  Cabinet — Lord  Derby  at  the  Front — Financial  Outlook  Depressing. 

'HE  treaty  which  closed  the  Crimean  war  was  not  a  popu- 
lar one  j  it  was  felt  that  England  had  not  gained  the  suc- 
cess which  ought  to  have  been  hers  before  she  consented  to 
negotiate  for  peace ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  French  sol- 
diers were  thought  to  have  won  all  the  honor  which  ought  to 
have  belonged  to  their  allies  across  the  channel.  There  was  not 
one  soldier  in  either  army,  however,  who  gained  in  this  war  the 
rank  of  a  great  general ;  the  only  one  who  could  be  said  to  have 
profited  by  the  hostilities  in  point  of  military  reputation  was  on 
the  enemy's  side — Gen.  Todleben.  At  the  same  time,  there  was 
really  no  definite  reason  for  carrying  on  the  war  any  longer; 
and  the  hearty  desire  manifested  by  France  for  peace  made  it 
impossible  for  England  to  hold  back,  even  if  her  Government 
had  been  so  inclined.  It  was  a  singular  circumstance,  that  the 
country  which  gained  all  the  glory  which  was  awarded  by  com- 
mon consent  to  the  Allies,  was  France,  where  the  war  had  never 
been  popular;  while  England,  where  the  people  were  enthusias- 
tically in  favor  of  it,  had  but  a  small  share  in  the  successes  which 
ultimately  determined  the  result. 

The  French  army  was  well  equipped  and  well  managed  from 
the  first;  the  English  had  just  begun  to  be  prepared  for  the  cam- 
paign when  it  ended.  Of  twenty-two  thousand  Englishmen  who 
died  in  the. Crimea,  eighteen  thousand  perished  from  disease, 
brought  about  by  the  want  of  proper  food,  clothing  or  shelter 
from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather.  Nor  was  the  wisdom  of  go- 
157 


158  Progressing  Towards  Liberalism. 

ing  to  war  in  the  first  place  universally  admitted.  "We  have  al- 
ready had  occasion  to  speak  of  the  societies  for  the  promotion 
of  peace,  which  were  organized  early  in  the  beginning  of  the 
trouble,  when  an  appeal  to  arms  had  not  yet  been  made  by  the 
Governments  of  the  west  of  Europe;  we  have  seen  how  strenu- 
ously Bright  and  other  members  of  Parliament  opposed  going 
to  war  upon  any  pretext  whatever ;  we  have  said  that  Lord 
Aberdeen  never  lost  hope  of  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  difficulty, 
until  the  declaration  of  war  had  actually  been  made;  and  although 
ho  had  said  that  he  would  resign  sooner  than  engage  in  war; 
he  was  carried  along  so  insensibly  that  his  resignation  was  not 
tendered  until  the  Ministry  of  which  he  was  the  head  had  been 
severely  condemned  for  their  mismanagement  of  matters  relating 
to  the  sustenance  and  care  of  the  army.  So  great  was  this 
statesman's  aversion  to  the  war,  which  he  averred  would  not  pro- 
duce any  good  results  to  England.  The  most  that  it  would  do, 
he  claimed,  would  be  to  preserve  the  peace  in  the  east  of  Europe 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  This  utterance  was  looked  upon  at 
the  time  as  the  dictum  of  a  man  utterly  at  variance  with  those 
who  were  directing  affairs,  who  would  see  only  the  dark  side  of 
the  question  ;  but  the  event  proved  that  he  had  not  spoken  with 
too  little  confidence;  three  years  before  the  expiration  of  the 
term  of  years  assigned  for  the  duration  of  the  peace  between 
Eussia  and  Turkey,  those  countries  were  again  at  war  with  each 
other. 

Mr.  Gladstone  seems  to  have  disapproved  of  the  war  quite  as 
much  as  his  quondam  chief.  Before  England  had  formally  ex- 
pressed her  intention  of  taking  part  in  the  struggle,  indeed,  be- 
fore it  was  at  all  probable  that  she  would  do  so,  he  had  made 
public  an  interpretation  of  the  existing  treaty  between  Russia 
and  Turkey  which  recognized  the  right  of  Eussia  to  punish  Tur- 
key for  the  violation  of  this  agreement.  The  clause  which  he  thus 
understood  was  the  first  line  of  the  seventh  article,  in  which  the 
Sublime  Porte  agrees  to  protect  the  Christian  religion  and  its 
churches.  This  was  generally  taken  in  connection  with  the  re- 
mainder of  the  article,  which  dealt  with  the  management  of  the 
now  church  at  Constantinople;  and  the  context,  particularly  the 
reference  to  the  fourteenth  article  of  the  same  treaty,  appeared 
to  prove  that  the  promise  in  the  first  line  was  specific,  and  not 
general,  as  it  was  assumed  by  Mr.  Gladstone  to  be.  According 
to  him,  the  promise  of  the  Sultan  to  protect  the  Christian  relig- 


Progressing  Towards  Liberalism.  159 

ion  was  a  distinct  engagement  from  those  which  follow  in  the 
same  article,  an  agreement  entered  into  with  the  sovereign  of 
Russia,  because  he  had  been  defeated  by  the  Russian  arms  and 
obliged  to  accept  the  terms  of  peace  which  the  Czar  dictated  to 
him  ;  and  this  was  duly  made  by  treaty.  If  he  broke  any  pro- 
vision of  this  treaty,  the  nation  with  which  it  had  been  made  was 
entitled  to  call  him  to  account  for  such  a  violation,  without  the 
intervention  of  any  other  government,  as  none  other  had  been 
concerned  in  the  ratification  of  the  original  peace;  and  this 
was  not  excepted  from  the  general  sacredness  of  those  provis- 
ions. We  are  bound  to  call  the  reader's  attention  to  the  fact 
that  this  was  Mr.  Gladstone's  interpretation,  not  that  generally 
accepted;  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  he  was  alone  in  his  under- 
standing of  the  agreement,  though  others  justified  Russia  on 
different  grounds.  The  Czar  himself  did  not  rest  his  right  to  an 
appeal  to  arms  upon  this  clause,  but  upon  the  fact  that  the  four- 
teenth article,  which  gave  him  a  virtual  protectorate  over  the 
Christians  in  Asiatic  Turkey,  had  been  disregarded  by  the 
Porte. 

We  have  quoted  this  interpretation  of  a  treaty  which  was 
broken  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  and  has  been  forgotten  near- 
ly as  long,  to  justify  Mr.  Gladstone's  course  during  the  war. 
That  course  was  not  approved  by  Parliament;  as  we  have  al- 
ready seen,  the  whole  Aberdeen  Ministry  was  condemned  be- 
cause it  gave  but  a  lukewarm  support  by  its  measures  at  home  to 
an  army  which  was  already  in  the  field.  The  members  of  that 
Cabinet  had  opposed  the  war  from  the  first,  acting  in  their  cor- 
porate capacity;  the  few  who  approved  of  it  were  transferred  to 
the  next  Ministry ;  but  we  can  hardly  wonder  that  a  man  who 
looked  upon  the  war  as  one  based  upon  a  mistaken  idea — upon 
indefensible  interference  with  another  nation's  business — should 
hesitate  about  lending  a  cordial  support  to  its  prosecution. 

March  31st,  1856,  Lord  Palmerston  announced  to  the  House  of 
Commons  that  a  treaty  of  peace  had  been  concluded  at  Paris;  a 
similar  announcement  was  made  in  the  House  of  Lords  at  the 
same  time.  The  terms  of  the  treaty  became  the  subject  of  de- 
bate as  soon  as  they  were  announced.  An  address  to  the  Queen 
was  at  once  moved  in  both  Houses;  the  amendment  proposed  in 
the  House  of  Commons  was  merely  the  substitution  of  the  word 
"satisfaction"  for  the  word  "joy"  at  the  conclusion  of  peace;  but 
this  trifling  alteration  was  sufficient  to  bring  the  subject  into  the 


100  Progressing  Towards  Liberalism. 

arena  of  debate.  After  the  speeches  by  tbe  mover  and  seconder 
of  this  address,  and  that  made  to  introduce  this  amendment,  Mr. 
Gladstone  addressed  the  House.  It  had  been  admitted  that 
the  peace  was  not  a  popular  one,  because  the  majority  of  Eng- 
lishmen thought  it  had  been  concluded  at  a  time  when  Eng- 
land might  have  won  further  successes  ;  and  Mr.  Gladstone  and 
his  allies  were  not  regarded  with  any  favor  by  the  House  on  ac- 
count of  their  connection  with  the  war.  Such  were  the  feelings 
of  many  of  his  listeners  on  this  occasion. 

The  treaty  was  an  honorable  one,  he  said,  because  the  objects 
of  the  war  had  been  obtained.  Those  who  had  spoken  against  it 
had  said  that  Great  Britain,  with  the  other  Christian  Powers, 
had  become  bound  for  the  maintenance  of  Turkey,  not  only  against 
foreign  aggression,  but  as  a  Mohammedan  State.  In  reply  to 
this,  Mr.  Gladstone  said  that  if  he  had  so  understood  the  words 
of  the  treaty,  he  would  not  support  an  address  which  expressed 
either  joy  or  satisfaction  at  the  conclusion  of  such  a  peace,  but 
would  look  for  the  most  emphatic  word  to  express  his  condem- 
nation of  an  agreement  to  support  a  set  of  institutions  which 
Christendom  must  endeavor  to  reform  if  she  could,  though  he  was 
not  sanguine  as  to  the  result  of  that  effort.  It  would  be  the  work 
and  care  of  many  generations,  he  said,  to  bring  such  an  effort  to 
a  happy  and  prosperous  conclusion  j  and  he  did  not  underrate 
the  difficulties  presented  by  the  juxtaposition  of  a  people  pro- 
fessing the  Mohammedan  religion  with  a  rising  Christian  popu- 
lation having  adverse  and  conflicting  interests.  But  there  was 
another  point  to  be  considered  in  connection  with  this  treaty. 
The  encroachment  of  Russia  upon  Turkey,  and  the  final  absorp- 
tion of  the  one  by  the  other,  would  be  an  evil  as  great  as  any 
which  could  arise  from  the  maintenance  of  Turkey  as  a  Moham- 
medan state.  Such  a  danger  to  the  peace,  liberties  and  privileges 
of  all  Europe,  Great  Britain  was  bound  to  resist  by  all  the  means  in 
her  power.  It  was  a  thing  to  be  regretted  that  a  more  substan- 
tive existence  had  not  been  secured  to  the  principalities,  butthis 
was  not  the  fault  of  England  or  of  France.  The  neutralization 
of  the  Black  Sea  he  also  condemned,  as  meaning  nothing  but  a 
series  of  pitfalls  in  time  of  war;  and  ho  thought  that  recognized 
rules  to  regulate  interference  on  behalf  of  the  Christians  should 
have  been  established.  It  was  a  great  triumph  that  the  Powers 
had  agreed  to  submit  international  differences  to  arbitration, 
though  in  this  very  agreement  there  was  much  danger  of  diplo« 


Progressing  Towards  Liberalism.  161 

matic  contention  promoting  the  quarrels  which  it  was  intended 
to  prevent.  He  argued  that  no  country  ought  to  submit  claims 
for  arbitration  unless  those  claims  were  such  as  it  would  be  wil- 
ling to  support  by  an  appeal  to  arms ;  such  a  course  might  lead 
to  the  reduction  of  the  standing  armies  which  were  so  severe  a 
tax  upon  all  the  countries  of  Europe  ;  and  the  speaker  rejoiced 
that  the  anticipation  of  this  state  of  affairs  had  already  led  the 
two  leading  military  nations  to  contemplate  a  reduction  of  their 
establishment ;  for  Russia  and  France  were  about  to  set  this  bold 
example. 

Although  it  was  an  innovation  to  entertain  such  subjects  in 
Conferences  of  pacification,  Mr.  Gladstone  expressed  his  satis- 
faction with  the  course  which  had  been  taken  with  regard  to 
Naples ;  but  he  regretted  that  the  records  inscribed  upon  the 
protocols  were  not  treaty  engagements,  and  did  not  approximate 
that  character.  As  the  case  stood,  they  were  authoritative  doc- 
ments,  which  might  be  appealed  to  by  those  whose  case  they 
strengthened,  but  which  were  far  from  possessing  the  authority 
of  a  treaty  with  those  who  desired  to  disregard  them.  Confus- 
ion would  inevitably  arise  from  these  semi-authoritative  engage- 
ments, and  infinite  discussion  be  based  upon  their  character. 

The  most  important  question  which  had  been  decided  at  this 
conference,  regarding  the  nations  which  had  not  actually  taken 
part  in  the  war,  was  that  relating  to  the  Belgian  press.  The  ex- 
cess in  which  the  journals  of  that  country  had  indulged  with  im- 
punity was  represented  as  having  been  condemned  by  all  the 
plenipotentiaries  present,  though  Lord  Clarendon,  one  of  the 
British  representatives,  had  told  them  that  the  scheme  suggested 
would  find  no  support  or  sympathy  in  England.  The  embassa- 
dors  of  Prussia  and  Austria  had  said  that  the  repression  of  the 
press  was  a  European  necessity;  the  French  negotiator  had  said 
that  legislation  on  the  subject  of  the  Belgian  press  was  required; 
Count  Orloff,  on  the  part  of  Russia,  declined  to  express  any  opin- 
ion, having  no  instructions  from  his  Government.  The  speaker 
said  that  he  hoped  these  statements  were  not  declarations  of  pol- 
icy, and  that  they  would  be  regretted  and  forgotten,  as  having 
issued  lightly  from  their  mouths.  He  pointed  out  that  the  Bel- 
gian Constitution  required  a  trial  by  jury  in  case  of  such  offen- 
ces; and  that  this  provision  could  not  be  readily  changed.  He 
concluded  by  urging  that  this  appeal,  contemplated  under  the 
compulsion  of  foreign  Powers,  some  of  whom  were  remote  in 

XI 


162 


Progressing  Towards  Liberalism. 


situation,  having  for  its  object  the  limitation  of  the  deares* 
rights  and  most  cherished  liberties  uf  the  gallant  and  high-spir- 
ited people  to  which  it  was  addressed,  was  not  a  policy  which 
tended  to  clear  the  political  horizon,  but  rather  to  render  it  more 
gloomy. 

Lord  Palmerston  closed  the  debate  with  a  speech  in  which  he 


Lord  Clarendon. 

assured  the  House  that  the  British  Government  would  take  no 
part  in  any  interference  with  an  independent  nation  with  the 
view  of  dictating  what  steps  she  should  take  to  gag  the  press. 
The  amendment  was  withdrawn  after  this  assurance  from  the 
Prime  Minister,  and  the  address  was  agreed  upon.  The  Crimean 
War  was  formally  at  an  end. 


Progressing  Towards  Liberalism.  163 

The  subject  of  National  Education  was  the  next  important 
-opic  brought  before  the  House.  Lord  John  Russell  introduced 
a  series  of  resolutions,  providing  that  the  funds  available  for  pub- 
lic instruction  should  be  applied  in  accordance  with  certain  pro- 
visions, and  laying  down  conditions  for  the  compulsory  educa- 
tion of  children  from  nine  to  fifteen,  who  were  employed  at  any 
kind  of  work.  These  resolutions  were  opposed  by  Mr.  Glad- 
stone, who  asserted  that  the  system  of  education  which  they  tend- 
ed to  create  was  lacking  in  the  most  important  element  of  moral 
influence  upon  the  character  of  the  pupil;  and  that  the  system  of 
inspection  proposed  tended  to  create  a  central  controlling  power, 
involving  secular  instruction  and  endless  religious  controversy. 
A  division  upon  the  question,  "That  the  chairman  do  now  leave 
the  chair  ;"  was  negatived  by  a  majority  of  more  than  a  hundred ; 
and  as  this  was  virtually  a  condemnation  of  the  measures  pro- 
posed, the  resolutions  were  not  proceeded  with.  In  the  list  of 
the  divisions  on  this  question,  we  find  some  strange  groupings 
of  names:  Cockburn,  Grey,  Horsman,  Palmerston,  Yilliers,  and 
Wood  were  recorded  as  voting  in  the  affirmative;  while  among 
those  who  were  agreed  to  condemn  the  resolutions  were  Glad- 
stone and  Disraeli,  with  the  Lord  Robert  Cecil  who,  in  1884,  as 
the  Marquis  of  Salisbury,  succeeded  the  former  as  Premier. 

Mr.  Gladstone  commented  with  some  severity  upon  the  budget 
which  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  brought  forward  in  May,, 
after  a  somewhat  lengthy  statement  in  February,  which  had  also 
met  with  the  disapproval  of  the  late  official,  who  had  shown  him- 
self such  a  master  of  finance;  but  the  propositions  of  the  incum- 
bent were  finally  agreed  to.  The  Palmerston  Government  was 
still  strong  enough  to  resist  the  Opposition  in  such  an  important 
measure  as  the  budget. 

The  English  Parliament  had  in  1855  passed  a  bill  providing  for 
the  enlistment  of  foreigners  in  the  Crimean  army,  and  the  ac- 
tions of  some  of  the  consuls  in  this  country  had  produced  con- 
siderable trouble  between  the  two  Governments.  Nor  was  this 
all:  the  British  embassador  himself  was  accused  by  the  United 
States  of  subverting  international  law  by  secretly  enlisting  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States  in  the  British  army.  Lord  Clarendon 
had  insisted  that  the  embassador  had  not  been  guilty  of  any  of- 
fense, but  an  eminent  American  lawyer  had  given  an  opinion  di- 
rectly the  contrary  of  this.  There  was  bad  feeling  on  both  sides, 
and  the  British  Minister  at  Washington  was  actually  dismissed. 


164  Progressing  Towards  Liberalism. 

While  this  feeling  was  at  its  height  (June  30th)  a  motion  was  intro- 
duced which  was  really  an  attempt  to  censure  the  Government  for 
the  course  which  had  been  pursued.  The  debate  was  a  long  one,  as 
there  were  several  views  which  might  be  taken  of  the  measure.  Of 
the  Opposition,  there  vroro  some  Tvho,  for  mere  sake  of  party  ad- 
vantage, were  ready  to  support  such  an  attempt;  there  were 
some,  on  both  sets  of  benches,  who  thought  that  the  United 
States  had  just  reason  to  complain;  and  there  were  some  who 
held  this  last  view,  and  some  who  held  the  opposite,  who  would 
not  join  in  any  such  vote,  intended  as  it  was  to  embarrass  the 
Government. 

Mr.  Gladstone  was  one  of  those  who,  while  he  did  not  defend 
the  conduct  of  the  Minister  at  Washington,  was  not  ready  to 
weaken  the  hands  of  the  Ministers  when  the  party  which  he  re- 
presented was  not  prepared  to  displace  them.  In  his  speech,  he 
said  that  it  appeared  to  him  that  there  were  two  cardinal  aims 
which  ought  to  be  kept  in  view;  these  were  peace  and  a  thorough- 
ly cordial  understanding  with  America  for  one,  and  the  honor 
and  fame  of  England  for  the  other.  But  he  was  not  satisfied  with 
the  existing  state  of  things  in  regard  to  either  of  these,  or  with 
the  conduct  of  the  Government.  A  cordial  understanding  with 
America  had  not  been  preserved,  and  the  honor  of  England  had 
been  compromised.  He  had  had  great  difficulty  in  coming  to  a  de- 
cision as  to  the  vote  which  he  should  give  upon  this  question  ;  but 
could  not  meet  the  resolution  with  a  direct  negative.  Explain- 
ing the  position  in  which  he  stood,  he  proceeded  to  inquire  into 
the  true  state  of  the  case.  He  charged  the  British  Government 
with  practising  concealment,  and  asserted  that  the  United  States 
Government  had  been  deceived  and  misled.  The  law  had  know- 
ingly been  broken  by  the  agents  of  the  British  Government ; 
and  the  American  Government  had  cause  to  complain,  since  an 
agency  within  the  United  States  had  been  employed  to  give  in- 
formation and  to  tempt,  by  the  offer  of  valuable  considerations, 
citizens  of  the  United  States  to  go  beyond  their  boundaries  for 
the  purpose  of  enlisting  in  the  English  army.  The  British  em- 
bassador  had  not  only  failed  to  inform  the  United  States  that 
this  was  being  done,  thus  justifying  the  charge  of  concealment, 
but  he  had  wilfully  broken  his  engagement  not  to  communicate, 
except  to  those  who  addressed  themselves  to  him,  the  terms  up- 
on which  they  would  be  received  into  the  army.  Mr.  Gladstone 
maintained  that  those  four  officials  who  had  been  punished  had 


THE   PRINCE  AND   PRINCESS  OF  WALES 
MR.  AND  MRS.  GLADSTONE 


Progressing  Towards  Liberalism.  165 

only  been  made  scape-goats  for  the  Government  which  had  up- 
held their  actions  in  the  main.  The  question  was  a  most  remark- 
able illustration,  he  said,  of  the  disorganized  state  of  the  great 
parties  ;  such  a  disagreement  upon  any  subject  of  foreign  policy 
would  have  been  impossible  in  the  days  when  Lord  John  Russell 
and  his  allies  occupied  the  Treasury  Benches,  and  Sir  Bobert 
Peel  sat  opposite. 

As  we  have  already  intimated,  Mr.  Gladstone,  though  he  con- 
demned the  policy  of  the  Government  upon  this  question,  was 
not  ready  to  give  his  vote  to  an  ineffectual  attempt  to  overthrow 
that  Government.  There  were  many  others  who  thought  as  he 
did,  and  the  Ministry  had  a  majority  of  nearly  two  hundred  up- 
on the  division. 

At  the  opening  of  the  session  of  1857,  when  the  royal  speech 
was  read  and  the  address  came  up  for  consideration,  Mr.  Dis- 
raeli made  some  severe  strictures  upon  the  Government,  mainly 
in  relation  to  its  foreign  policy.  To  these  criticisms  the  Chancel- 
lor of  the  Exchequer,  who  obtained  the  floor  immediately  after- 
ward to  make  a  statement  with  relation  to  his  financial  measures, 
made  not  the  slightest  reply.  The  omission  was  a  notable  one, 
and  Mr.  Gladstone  pointed  it  out.  After  expressing  his  surprise 
that  such  censure  of  the  Ministry  had  been  unanswered  by  the 
member  of  the  Cabinet  who  had  spoken,  he  proceeded  to  speak  of 
the  questions  of  foreign  policy  with  which  the  Government  had 
at  that  time  to  deal.  There  had  been  difficulties  with  China; 
there  were  actual  hostilities  with  Persia;  there  was  a  dispute 
with  regard  to  Central  America;  there  were  some  points  of  the 
Treaty  of  Paris  on  which  information  was  desirable.  All  these  were 
points  which  the  Government  had  had  opportunity  to  consider, 
and  on  which  there  ought  to  be  some  explanation  furnished  to 
the  House.  Coming  to  the  statement  just  made  by  the  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer,  Mr.  Gladstone  dealt  at  length  with  the  old 
question  of  the  Income  Tax,  which  was  again  revived  by  the  ne- 
cessity of  increasing  the  revenue  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  war. 
Again  he  protested  against  a  loan  designed  to  meet  this  neces- 
sity ;  and  he  was  likewise  opposed  to  new  taxation.  The  Gov- 
ernment had  in  1853  pledged  itself  to  abolish  this  tax  in  seven 
years;  and  that  pledge,  which  had  been  given  and  received  in 
good  faith,  ought  not  to  be  recalled,  now  that  four  years  of  the 
seven  had  passed .  As  far  as  his  duty  was  concerned,  he  would  give 
his  effort  and  labor  to  fulfill  those  pledges,  which  he  had  not  for- 


(66  Progressing  Toward*  fjiberalism. 

gotten,  and  was  not  likely  to  forget.  He  should  always  remem- 
ber with  gratitude,  he  said,  the  conduct  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons at  the  time  when  those  measures  were  adopted,  and  the 
generosity  which  they  had  evinced  ;  and  he  promised  that  that 
gratitude  should  be  evinced  by  his  efforts  to  secure  the  extinc- 
tion of  the  Income  Tux  at  the  time  fixed. 

The  budget  was  brought  before  the  house  Feb.  13th,  in  a  speech 
which,  though  it  did  not  have  the  same  effect  which  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's addresses  on  the  s:ime  subject  had  had  for  the  House,  and 
did  not  prove  as  entertaining  as  Mr.  Disraeli's  had  been  upon  a 
similar  occasion,  was  yet  superior  to  the  general  run  of  budget 
speeches.  The  plan  proposed  was  one  of  considerable  merit, 
being  clearly  stated  and  ably  justified.  But  it  had  the  one  great 
disadvantage  of  being  a  total  innovation  upon  the  plan  which 
had  been  established  by  this  Parliament  in  previous  sessions, 
based  upon  the  financial  measures  inaugurated  by  Sir  Eobert 
Peel,  which  Mr.  Gladstone,  while  holding  this  office,  had  natural- 
ly carried  out,  and  now  defended.  Nor  was  there  any  startling 
merit  about  this  plan,  to  compensate  for  the  disadvantage  of  its 
being  so  totally  different  from  the  measures  which  had  been  ap- 
proved and  carried  out.  But  the  part  of  the  plan  which  Mr. 
Gladstone  most  severely  condemned,  was  the  increase  in  the  tax 
upon  tea  and  sugar.  He  stigmatized  the  proposition  of  the 
Chancellor  as  a  plan  to  remit  the  taxes  which  bore  heavily  upon 
the  wealthy,  and  make  up  the  deficiency  thus  occasioned  by  du- 
ties upon  those  articles  which  were  used  in  the  family  of  every 
laborer  in  the  country.  He  added  that  he  should  oppose  this 
policy  at  every  stage  of  its  progress  before  the  House. 

In  the  division  which  took  place  upon  this  question,  we  find 
Mr.  Gladstone  again  side  by  side  with  Mr.  Disraeli.  But  the 
alliance  of  the  two  rivals  was  not  sufficient  to  defeat  the  Govern- 
ment in  its  financial  schemes,  and  the  amendment  to  the  budget 
which  was  the  immediate  cause  of  this  speech  was  lost  by  a  ma- 
jority of  eighty  votes. 

A  few  weeks  later,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  intro- 
duced an  amended  scale  for  the  tea  duty  j  and,  true  to  his  prom- 
'iso,  Mr.  Gladstone  opposed  the  measure.  In  the  course  of  the 
speech  which  he  made  at  this  time,  he  told  the  Ministry  that  if 
he  wished  to  advocate  an  extended  and  organic  reform  in  the 
parliamentary  representation,  he  could  not  desire  a  better  case 
\han  the  one  which  the  Government's  financial  policy  had  furnish- 


Progressing  Towards  Liberalism. 


167 


ed  him.  The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  professed  his  inabil- 
ity to  prepare  a  scheme  upon  the  principles  recommended  by 
Mr.  Gladstone,  and  the  division  proved  that  he  had  no  need  to 
do  so,  the  Government  being  supported  by  a  majority  of  fifty- 
two. 


Division  Barrier  and  Lobby  of  the  House  of  Commons.     Taking  a  Division. 

In  the  discussion  which  followed  the  second  reading  of  the  In- 
come Tax  Bill,  Mr.  Gladstone  again  drew  attention  to  the  great 


168  Progressing  Towards  Liberalism. 

expenditure  of  the  revenue,  and  charged  that  the  foreign  policy 
of  the  Government  was  not  unconnected  with  the  excessive  tax- 
ation and  high  expenditure  of  the  country ;  in  a  subsequent 
speech,  he  called  attention  to  the  enormous  increase  in  the  mili- 
tary estimates.  In  this  latter  case,  however,  he  did  not  press  a 
division,  and  the  proposals  of  the  Government  on  the  Naval  Es- 
timate passed  the  House. 

We  find  him  in  the  minority  in  the  division  on  the  Divorce 
Bill  which  passed  the  House  this  session  ;  contending  gallantly, 
though  vainly,  for  the  equality  of  woman  with  man  in  all  the 
rights  pertaining  to  marriage,  and  dealing  with  the  question  on 
social,  moral  and  legal  grounds. 

The  Government  was  gradually  losing  strength  in  the  House, 
though  it  was  still  popular  in  the  country  j  the  next  import- 
ant debate  was  one  that  showed  its  weakness.  There  had 
been  considerable  trouble  with  China  regarding  the  opium  trade, 
in  which  the  British  were  charged  with  conniving  at  smuggling. 
The  crew  of  a  lorcha  which  had  been  licensed  to  carry  the  Brit- 
ish flag  had  been  seized,  in  the  harbor  of  Canton,  by  Chinese  au- 
thorities ;  it  was  said  by  the  Opposition  that  the  license  had  ex- 
pired, and  that  the  Arrow  was  in  no  sense  a  British  vessel ;  it 
was  said  by  the  Government  that  the  Chinese  mandarin  who 
made  the  seizure  actually  caused  the  British  flag  to  be  hauled 
down  from  the  mast,  and  replaced  by  the  Chinese  ensign.  A  mo- 
tion condemning  the  action  of  the  Government  in  reference  to 
this  affair  was  introduced  into  the  House  of  Lords,  where  it  was 
defeated  by  a  majority  of  thirty -six;  a  similar  motion  was 
brought  before  the  House  of  Commons  by  Mr.  Cobden.  The  de- 
bate lasted  four  nights,  and  almost  every  member  of  the  House 
who  was  distinguished  as  an  orator  expressed  an  opinion  upon 
the  side  which  he  supported,  the  discussion  thus  attaining  an  un- 
usually high  level  of  parliamentary  oratory. 

Mr.  Gladstone  was  among  the  last  who  spoke,  and  thus  had  the 
advantage  of  summing  up  and  answering  the  arguments  of  his 
adversaries.  He  denied  that  the  British  Government  had  any- 
thing to  complain  of  in  the  treatment  which  had  been  received 
from  the  Chinese,  which  had  been  strictly  in  accordance  with 
the  engagements  entered  into  in  the  treaty  of  1842.  He  called 
attention  to  the  number  of  times-  that  British  subjects  had  of- 
fended against  the  provisions  of  this  treaty  and  their  conduct 
been  condoned  by  the  Chinese  Government,  he  defended  Sir 


Progressing  Towards  Liberalism.  169 

James  Graham,  who  had  been  attacked  by  Sir  George  Grey  and 
ridiculed  for  his  reference  to  Christian  principles  as  the  basis  of 
the  action  of  the  Government.  He  said  that  since  this  appeal  to 
Christian  principles  was  thus  forbidden,  he  would  appeal  to 
something  older  than  Christianity;  broader,  since  it  was  where 
Christianity  is  not;  to  that  which  underlies  Christianity,  for 
Christianity  appeals  to  it — the  justice  which  binds  man  to  man. 
It  was  this  which  must  regulate  the  intercourse  between  Gov- 
ernments, and  he  denied  that  it  had  been  the  principle  upon 
which  the  British  Ministry  had  been  guided  in  this  affair,  as  well 
as  others  in  which  they  had  had  to  deal  with  the  Chinese. 

The  position  of  the  Government  was  stated  by  Lord  Palmer- 
ston,  though  he  had  the  disadvantage  of  speaking  at  a  time  of  the 
night  when  the  members  were  tired  out;  notwithstanding  the 
lateness  of  the  hour,  however,  he  was  immediately  followed  by 
Mr.  Disraeli,  who  accepted  the  construction  which  had  been  put 
upon  the  motion,  that  it  was  a  vote  of  censure  upon  the  Govern- 
ment; and  replying  to  Palmerston's  alarm  over  a  suggested  com- 
bination, bade  him  appeal  to  the  country  if  he  thought  himself 
the  victim  of  a  political  conspiracy. 

Mr.  Cobden  closed  the  debate  in  a  brief  speech,  and  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  on  the  fourth  night  of  the  debate,  the 
division  was  taken.  It  showed  a  majority  of  sixteen  against  the 
Government.  Lord  Palmerston,  when  this  result  was  announ- 
ced, stated  that  although  the  usual  course  under  such  circumstan- 
ces would  be  to  resign,  he  did  not  believe  that  the  present  Min- 
istry was  to  be  held  to  that  rule.  He  therefore  decided  to  dis- 
solve Parliament,  and  appeal  to  the  country. 

As  had  been  anticipated,  the  Government  received  a  consider- 
able accession  of  strength  at  the  general  election  which  ensued. 
Liberals  and  Peelites  suffered  considerably,  Cobden  and  Bright 
being  prominent  members  of  the  former  party  who  failed  of  elec- 
tion. Mr.  Gladstone,  however,  was  again  returned  by  the  Uni- 
versity, this  time  without  opposition.  It  should  be  here  men- 
tioned that  although  the  Peelite  party  was  a  small  one,  the  abil- 
ity of  its  members  was  great,  and  it  therefore  commanded  a  great- 
er degree  of  respect  than  has  been  the  portion  of  most  organiza- 
tions of  similar  numerical  strength,  and  possessed  an  influence 
proportioned  to  this  moral  standing. 

Parliament  met  for  a  short  session  before  Christmas,  when  an 
important  financial  measure  came  up  for  consideration.  The  sus- 


170  Progressing  Towards  Liberalism. 

pension  of  several  banks  in  the  United  States  had  created  a  mon- 
etary panic,  and  the  directors  of  the  Bank  of  England,  desiring 
to  increase  their  issue  of  notes  to  meet  the  demand  thus  created, 
asked  authority  to  do  so.  To  grant  this  permission,  the  Govern- 
ment was  obliged  to  ask  for  a  suspension  of  the  Bank  Charter 
Act  of  1844,  and  brought  a  Bill  of  Indemnity  before  the  House 
for  that  purpose.  Mr.  Gladstone  did  not  oppose  the  bill,  but  ar- 
gued that  it  would  be  wiser  to  investigate  the  causes  of  the  late 
panic,  and  how  far  they  were  connected  with  the  state  of  banking. 
The  effect  of  referring  a  heap  of  subjects  to  an  overburdened 
committee  would  be  to  postpone  legislation,  and  obstruct  inquiry 
into  the  causes  of  the  recent  panic  and  the  present  embarrass- 
ment. When  the  bill  came  up  for  the  third  reading,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone reiterated  these  arguments,  and  showed  what  evils  arose 
from  the  confusion  prevailing  between  the  functions  of  banking 
and  currency.  The  bill  passed  the  House,  an  amendment  pro- 
posed by  Mr.  Disraeli  being  rejected  by  a  considerable  majority. 
When  the  House  met  after  the  Christmas  recess,  there  was  con- 
siderable excitement  prevailingovertheattemptto  assassinate  the 
Emperor  of  the  French  which  had  recently  been  madebyOrsini. 
There  was  a  good  deal  of  sympathy  existing  in  England  for  the 
proposed  victim,  but  this  was  not  understood  by  the  French, 
who  charged  that  England  afforded  an  asylum  for  conspirators 
against  the  peace  and  welfare  of  other  states.  Foreign  refugees, 
they  claimed,  were  allowed  to  concoct  and  mature  plots  to  be 
carried  into  execution  elsewhere.  This  was  not  an  accusation 
brought  merely  by  agitators  and  irresponsible  journals,  b'j 
gravely  preferred  by  the  French  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs, 
though  in  such  a  modified  form  as  diplomacy  permits.  He  urged 
upon  the  Premier  the  necessity  of  legislation  on  this  subject; 
and  at  the  beginning  of  the  session  of  1858  Lord  Palmerston  in- 
troduced his  Conspiracy  to  Murder  Bill.  The  first  reading  was 
carried  by  an  immense  majority;  but  by  the  time  that  it  came 
before  the  House  again,  the  impression  had  obtained  that  the 
Ministers  were  simply  puppets  in  the  hands  of  Napoleon  III. 
Mr.  Gibson  accordingly  moved  an  amendment  inquiring  why  the 
dispatch  of  the  French  Minister  had  not  been  answered.  The 
statement  that  England  was  a  lair  of  savage  beasts  and  a  labora- 
tory of  assassins  was  quoted  as  the  utterance  of  a  prominent 
French  orator ;  it  was  asserted  that  the  bill  was  introduced  at 
the  dictation  of  a  foreign  government;  and  Lord  Palmerston 


Progressing  Towards  Liberalism.  171 

was  accused,  by  a  quotation  from  the  Times  which  was  cited  with 
approval  by  the  speaker,  of  being  capable  of  making  any  sacri- 
fice of  principle  or  interest  to  secure  the  good-will  of  a  foreign 
power  which  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  court.  But  the  most 
powerful  speech  that  was  made  in  this  connection,  and  the  one 
of  most  enduring  interest,  as  taking  a  broad  and  statesmanlike 
view  of  the  condition  of  the  time,  was  that  of  Mr.  Gladstone. 

Lord  Palmerston  had  stated  that  the  dispatch  referred  to  in 
the  amendment  had  been  answered  verbally;  but  Mr.  Gladstone 
pointed  out  that  this  was  the  weakest  kind  of  an  answer;  of  all 
explanations  which  could  be  offered  to  the  House,  this  was  the 
most  unsatisfactory.  The  French  Minister's  dispatch  should 
have  been  answered  by  stating  the  law  already  existing  in  Eng- 
land on  the  subject.  In  place  of  this  reply,  the  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment were  asked  to  answer  by  passing  the  Bill  which  had  been 
proposed  by  the  Premier.  Mr.  Gladstone's  peroration  is  a  re- 
markable commentary  upon  the  English  Government  and  its 
measures  of  repression  thirty  years  later: 

"If  there  is  any  feeling  in  this  House  for  the  honor  of  Eng- 
land, don't  let  us  be  led  away  by  some  vague  statement  as  to  the 
necessity  of  reforming  the  criminal  law.  Let  us  insist  upon  the 
necessity  of  vindicating  that  law.  As  far  as  justice  requires,  let 
us  have  the  existing  law  vindicated,  and  then  let  ns  proceed  to 
amend  it  if  it  be  found  necessary.  But  do  not  let  us  allow  it  to 
lie  under  a  cloud  of  accusations  of  which  we  are  convinced  that 
it  is  totally  innocent.  These  times  are  grave  for  liberty.  We 
live  in  the  nineteenth  century  ;  we  talk  of  progress  ;  wo  believe 
that  we  are  advancing ;  but  can  any  man  of  observation  who  has 
watched  the  events  of  the  last  few  years  in  Europe  have  failed 
to  perceive  that  there  is  a  movement  indeed,  but  that  it  is  a 
downward  and  backward  movement?  There  are  a  few  spots  in 
which  institutions  that  claim  our  sympathy  still  exist  and  flour- 
ish. They  are  secondary  places — nay,  they  are  al  most  the  holes 
and  corners  of  Europe  so  far  as  mere  material  greatness  is  con- 
cerned, although  their  moral  greatness  will,  I  trust,  insure  them 
long  prosperity  and  happiness.  But  in  these  times  more  than 
ever  does  responsibility  center  upon  the  institutions  of  England; 
and  if  it  does  center  upon  England,  upon  her  principles,  upon 
her  laws,  and  upon  her  governors,  then  I  say  that  a  measure 
passed  by  this  House  of  Commons,  the  chief  hope  of  freedom, 
which  attempts  to  establish  a  moral  complicity  between  us  and 


172 


Progressing  Towards  Liberalism. 


those  who  seek  safety  in  repressive  measures  will  be  a  blow  arm 
discouragement  to  that  sacred  cause  in  every  country  of  the 
world." 

After  a  number  of  speeches,  chief  among  which  was  one  in 
which  Mr.  Disraeli  called  the  attention  of  the  debaters  to  the  fact 
that  the  real  question  before  the  House  was  not  diplomatic  or 
political,  but  one  between  the  House  and  the  Ministers  of  the 
Crown,  Lord  Palmerston  rose  to  reply.  He  deprecated  the  de- 
partures which  had  been  made  from  the  topic  under  considera- 
tion, particularly  by  Messrs.  Gibson  and  Gladstone,  who,  he  com- 
plained, had  entered  into  an  elaborate  attack  upon  his  conduct 

when  he  was  Secretary  for 
Foreign  Affairs;  his  attack 
upon  Mr.  Gibson  was  a  bit- 
ter, personal  one,  which  was 
interrupted  by  strong  ex- 
pressions of  disapproval 
from  the  House ;  and  he  ad- 
dressed himself  to  a  consid- 
eration of  the  point  at  issue. 
His  defense  of  the  course 
of  the  Government  did  not 
justify  it  in  the  eyes  of  the 
House,  however,  for  the  di- 
vision showed  that  the  Min- 
istry was  in  a  minority  of 
nineteen.  Many  of  those  who 
thus  voted  did  not  wish  to 
overthrow  the  Government, 
and  it  is  probable  that  if 
Palmerston  had  asked  for  a 
vote  of  confidence  it  would  have  been  granted  by  a  majority  suf- 
eient  to  justify  him  in  retaining  the  reins  of  power ;  but  his  gov- 
ernment had  been  defeated  very  recently  by  a  majority  which, 
although  small,  was  such  that  the  Opposition  had  expected  the 
resignation  of  the  Ministry  to  follow  it ;  he  had  appealed  to  the 
country;  and  although  he  had  then  received  the  encouragement 
for  which  he  had  hoped,  this  fresh  defeat,  coming  immediately 
after  the  reassembling  of  Parliament,  determined  his  course.  Am- 
bitious of  office  he  might  be,  but  he  had  never  shown  an  undue 
tenacity  of  it;  and  he  accordingly  resigned  his  post. 


Rt.  Hon.  T.  Milner  Gibson. 


Progressing  Towards  Liberalism.  173 

Lord  Derby  was  sent  for  by  the  Queen,  and  accepted  tbe  task 
imposed  upon  him  of  forming  a  Ministry.  With  a  good  deal  of 
difficulty  he  at  last  succeeded.  In  this  cabinet,  Mr.  Disraeli  was 
again  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  It  is  significant  of  the  grad- 
ual change  in  his  opinions  that  at  this  late  day,  Mr.  Gladstone 
was  offered  a  post  (that  of  Colonial  Secretary)  in  this  Conserva- 
tive Government.  We  are  not  informed  if  he  proposed  to  extend 
only  an  independent  support,  or  if  he  positively  and  unhesitat- 
ingly declined  the  offer.  Certainly  he  did  not  again  take  office 
under  a  Tory  Minister. 

The  Houses  adjourned,  to  give  the  new  Premier  an  opportun- 
ity of  forming  his  Cabinet;  and  reassembled  March  1st.  Lord 
Derby,  in  his  first  speech  to  the  House  of  Lords,  begged  their 
forbearance  for  his  failure  to  make  a  complete  statement  of  his 
intended  policy;  the  time  had  been  too  short  to  allow  him  to 
prepare  such  an  important  resume;  there  were  two  points  which 
required  immediate  consideration,  however;  these  were  the 
changes  to  be  effected  in  the  system  of  government  of  India,  and 
the  question  of  parliamentary  reform.  The  first  of  these  had  al- 
ready been  under  consideration  for  some  time,  a  bill  for  that  pur- 
pose having  been  introduced  into  the  House  of  Commons  by  Lord 
Palmerston.  This,  however,  had  not  gone  beyond  its  first  read- 
ing ;  and  it  became  necessary  for  the  present  Government  to  pre- 
sent a  measure  in  place  of  that  proposed  by  its  predecessor.  Mr. 
Disraeli,  who  had  by  this  change  of  Ministry  become  the  leader 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  brought  forward  the  measure,  usu- 
ally denominated  India  Bill  No.  2,  to  distinguish  it  from  that 
introduced  by  Lord  John  Russell  on  behalf  of  the  Palmerston 
Ministry;  but  this  bill,  like  its  predecessor,  never  got  beyond 
the  first  reading.  A  sort  of  compromise,  however,  was  pro- 
posed by  Lord  John  Russell,  and  gladly  accepted  by  Mr.  Dis- 
raeli, by  which  the  question  was  dealt  with  by  way  of  resolution. 
Before  these  resolutions  could  be  considered,  however,  by  the 
House,  the  Ministry  was  brought  to  the  brink  of  dissolution. 
Lord  Canning,  the  Governor-General  of  India,  sent  back  a  draft 
of  a  proclamation  which  he  proposed  to  issue,  announcing  a 
scheme  of  confiscation  which  was  certainly  open  to  very  grave 
objection,  and  which  would  probably  have  caused  the  flames  of 
rebellion,  so  recently  extinguished,  to  burst  forth  with  renewed 
fury.  Lord  Ellenborough,  the  President  of  the  Indian  Board  of 
Control,  wrote  a  strongly  worded  protest  against  the  policy  thus 


174  Progressing  Towards  Liberalism. 

recommended.  This  should  of  course  have  been  kept  private 
until  it  reached  its  destination;  but  copies  of  it  were  sent  to 
Lord  Granville,  the-  intimate  friend  of  Lord  Canning,  and  to 
John  Bright,  who  was  the  most  eminent  advocate  of  a  mild  and 
generous  policy  toward  the  natives  of  India.  The  consequence 
was  that  the  purport  of  Lord  Canning's  proclamation  and  Lord 
Ellcnborough's  strictures  upon  it,  became  known,  and  Lord 
Shaftesbury  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  Mr.  Cardwell  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  brought  forward  motions  which  were  vir- 
tually votes  of  censure  upon  the  Government.  If  these  had  been 
carried,  there  would  of  course  have  been  a  change  of  Ministry 
within  a  week  of  the  time  when  Lord  Derby  had  first  addressed 
the  House  of  Lords  upon  his  accession  to  office ;  but  Lord  Ellen- 
borough,  who  seems  to  have  been  the  only  one  to  blame  in  this 
indiscreet  publicity  given  to  unsettled  questions,  saved  the  Minis- 
try by  sacrificing  himself;  and  made  room  for  his  successor. 

Lord  Shaftesbury's  motion  had  been  defeated  by  the  Lords  be- 
fore this  resignation  was  announced;  but  Mr.  Cardwell's  was 
still  the  subject  of  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons.  This  dis- 
cussion had  extended  over  four  nights  when  Lord  Ellenborough's 
resignation  was  announced,  and  the  motion  was  withdrawn  by 
the  member  who  had  presented  it.  He  was  induced  to  do  this  by 
the  requests  of  many  members  who  had  agreed  to  support  it,  but 
declined  to  do  so  after  the  matter  had  taken  this  turn.  Disraeli, 
whose  power  of  coining  telling  phrases  would  have  made  him  a 
power  in  a  state  which  was,  like  the  government  of  the  First 
Xapolcon,  "  a  despotism  tempered  by  epigrams,"  has  described 
this  scene  in  such  graphic  language  that,  although  it  is  a  depar- 
ture from  the  strict  line  of  our  subject,  we  cannot  refrain  from 
quoting: 

"  There  is  nothing  like  that  last  Friday  night  in  the  history  of 
the  House  of  Commons.  We  came  down  to  the  House  expecting 
to  divide  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning;  I  myself  probably  ex- 
pecting to  deliver  an  address  two  hours  after  midnight;  and  I 
believe  that,  even  with  the  consciousness  of  a  good  cause,  that  is 
no  mean  effort.  Well,  gentlemen,  we  were  all  assembled  ;  our 
benches  with  their  serried  ranks  seemed  to  rival  those  of  our 
proud  opponents  ;  when  suddenly  there  arose  a  wail  of  distress, 
but  not  from  us.  I  can  only  liken  the  scene  to  the  mutiny  of 
the  Bengal  army.  Regiment  after  regiment,  corps  after  corps, 
general  after  general  all  acknowledged  that  they  could  not  march 


Progressing  Towards  Liberalism.  175 

through  Coventry.  It  was  like  a  convulsion  of  nature  rather 
than  an  ordinary  transaction  of  human  life.  I  can  only  liken  it  to 
one  of  those  earthquakes  which  take  place  in  Calabria  and  Peru. 
There  was  a  rumbling  murmur,  a  groan,  a  shriek,  a  sound  of  dis- 
tant thunder.  No  one  knew  whether  it  came  from  the  top  orthe 
bottom  of  the  House.  There  was  a  rent,  a  fissure  in  the  ground, 
and  then  a  village  disappeared,  then  a  tall  tower  toppled  down, 
and  the  whole  of  the  Opposition  Benches  became  one  great  dis- 
solving view  of  anarchy." 

According  to  Lord  Derby,  that  which  most  peculiarly  apper- 
tained to  this  passage,  above  wit,  and  clearness,  and  humor,  was 
the  undeniable  truth  ;  it  was  not  exaggerated,  he  adds,  for  there 
was  no  exaggeration  possible;  and  this  is  the  testimony  of  an 
eye-witness. 

There  were  many  passages  in  the  address  from  which  this  ex- 
tract is  taken  which  gave  great  offence  at  the  time  j  they  were 
strongly  disputed  by  the  late  Ministry  whose  course  was  thus  as- 
sailed, but  still  insisted  upon  by  Lord  Derby  and  Mr.  Disraeli. 

After  this  interrruption,  which  had  so  nearly  proved  fatal  to 
the  new  Government,  the  House  of  Commons  returned  to  the 
consideration  of  those  resolutions  upon  which  India  Bill  No.  3 
was  to  be  based.  They  provided  that  the  government  of  India 
should  be  transferred  from  the  Company  to  the  Crown.  A  Sec- 
retary of  State  for  India  was  to  be  appointed,  who  was  to  be  as- 
sisted by  a  council  of  fifteen.  These  advisers,  who  were  t )  hold 
office  during  good  behavior,  were  to  be  nominated  by  different 
powers.  Of  the  number,  eight  were  to  hold  their  appointments 
from  the  Crown,  while  the  remainder  were  to  be  nominated  by 
the  board  of  directors  the  first  time  ;  afterward  by  the  council 
itself.  The  various  civil  offices,  the  appointments  to  which  had 
been  under  the  direct  control  of  the  directors,  were  to  be  filled 
in  future  in  accordance  with  the  results  of  certain  examinations, 
which  were  to  be  competitive.  This  is  the  beginning  of  that 
Civil  Service  Eeform  which  has  since  been  so  largely  adopted  in 
England  and  which  has  excited  so  much  controversy  in  Amer- 
ica. It  had  been  advocated  as  early  as  1827,  but  the  inno- 
vation upon  English  customs  had  been  stoutly  resisted  ;  the  Gov- 
ernment was  quite  willing  to  try  an  experiment  in  India,  how- 
ever, which  they  were  doubtful  about  inaugurating  in  England. 
The  chief  advocate  of  the  system,  at  the  time  of  which  we  write, 
was  no  less  a  political  economist  than  John  Stuart  Mill. 


176  Progressing  Towards  Liberalism. 

This  plan  of  government  for  India  was  earnestly  opposed  by 
Mr.  Gladstone,  who  enunciated  principles  in  connection  with  the 
management  of  Indian  affairs  by  the  English  Parliament  which 
the,  long  afterward,  was  brought  to  admit  ought  to  be  applied  to 
the  case  of  another  country.  The  interests  of  the  people  of  In- 
dia had  hitherto  been  protected  by  the  Court  of  Directors  ;  but 
by  the  provisions  of  this  bill  they  were  left  at  the  mercy  of  the 
ignorance,  or  error,  or  indiscretion  of  the  people  and  Parlia- 
ment of  England.  There  was  no  limitation  to  the  power  of  the 
Executive  through  the  treasury  and  army  of  India,  by  which 
wars  might  be  commenced  without  the  knowlege  or  consent  of 
Parliament,  and  an  accumulation  of  debt  would  be  cast  upon 
India. 

This  bill  was  finally  withdrawn  by  Mr.  Disraeli,  and  Mr.  Glad- 
stone endeavored  to  prevent  further  ill-considered  legislation  up- 
on this  important  subject  by  a  resolution  which  he  introduced 
June  7th.  This  resolution  affirmed  that  it  was  expedient  to 
create  the  Court  of  Directors  of  the  East  India  Company,  to  ad- 
minister the  government  of  India  in  the  name  of  the  Queen,  un- 
til the  end  of  that  session  of  Parliament.  It  was  not  possible,  he 
said,  during  the  session  of  Parliament  to  perfect  a  scheme  of 
government  which  would  be  worthy  to  stand  as  the  plan  for  rul- 
ing a  people  like  that  of  India;  the  problem  was  one  of  the 
most  formidable  ones  ever  presented  to  any  legislature  or  any 
nation,  and  the  evils  of  delay  were  insignificant  in  comparison 
with  those  of  crude  and  hasty  legislation.  After  a  long  discus- 
sion, this  was  negatived  by  a  considerable  majority,  and  the 
Government  formally  introduced  the  India  Bill  No.  3. 

Mr.  Bright's  idea  of  good  government  in  India  would  be  se- 
cured, he  thought,  by  the  constitution  of  five  Presidencies  of 
equal  rank,  among  which  there  would  be  a  generous  rivalry  for 
good,  instead  of  utter  stagnation  ;  evil  ambition  would  be  check- 
ed, and  there  would  be  no  governor  so  great  that  he  could  not  be 
controlled.  This,  however,  was  not  regarded  as  wholly  practica- 
ble. Mr.  Gladstone's  amendment,  which  was  proposed  later  on, 
met  with  more  favor.  It  provided  that  the  forces  maintained  out 
of  the  revenue  of  India  should  not  be  employed  in  any  military 
operation  outside  of  India,  except  for  repelling  invasion,  or  un- 
der some  other  urgent  and  sudden  necessity,  without  the  consent 
of  Parliament  for  the  purpose.  This  amendment  was  carried, 
and  on  the  8th  of  July  the  bill  passed  the  House  of  Commons. 


Progressing  Towards  Liberalism. 


177 


Another  speech  which  Mr.  Gladstone  delivered  during  this 
session  has  great  interest  when  taken  in  connection  with  his  at- 
titude and  utterances  on  the  same  subject  some  years  later.  This 
was  on  the  subject  of  the  Danubian  Principalities,  the  people  of 
which  were  extremely  anxious  for  the  union  which  had  been  dis- 
cussed at  the  Congress  of  Paris.  The  question  had  been  submitted 
to  the  people  themselves,  and  they  had  been  found  to  be  almost 
unanimously  in  favor  of  it.  They  asked  something  more  than 


Earl  of  Derby. 

mere  union,  however;  it  would  be  necessary,  in  order  to  guard 
against  local  jealousies,  that  they  should  have  a  prince  or  chief 
taken  from  a  foreign  family.  This  would  secure  peace  between 
Turkey  and  Russia  by  interposing  a  boundary  of  neutral  terri- 
tory, or  what  would  be  practically  neutral,  between  the  two  fron- 
tiers. The  feeling  in  these  Principalities  was  favorable  to  Tur- 
key, because  their  relations  with  Turkey  were  founded  upon  a 
liberal  basis,  and  there  had  thus  far  been  no  sensible  collision  of 
interests.  If  the  union  did  not  take  place,  the  Principalities 

12 


1"8  Progressing  Towards  Liberalism. 

would  be  a  constant  source  of  anxiety  to  Europe;  nor  could  it 
have  the  slightest  injurious  effect  upon  the  Ottoman  Empire, 
which  had  never  possessed  the  sovereignty  of  the  Principalities. 
He  said  that  it  would  have  been  far  better  to  have  said  nothing 
about  the  union,  than  to  hold  out  the  hope  of  it,  and  then  re- 
verse the  policy.  The  speech  concluded  with  these  words  : 

"  I  must  really  say  that  if  it  were  our  desire  to  embroil  the 
East,  to  sow  the  seeds  and  create  the  elements  of  permanent  dif- 
ficulty and  disunion,  to  aggravate  every  danger  which  threatens 
Turkey,  and  to  prepare  willing  auxiliaries  for  Russia  in  her  pro- 
jects southwards,  we  could  not  attain  those  objects  by  any  means 
better  than  that  of  abandoning  our  pledges  and  promises,  and 
giving  in  to  the  Austrian  policy." 

This  speech,  which  was  made  in  support  of  a  motion  to  pres- 
ent an  address  to  the  Queen  upon  the  subject,  was  answered  by 
Mr.  Disraeli,  who  said  that  he  could  not  conceive  a  step  which 
would  be  more  embarrassing  to  the  Government  than  che  adop- 
tion of  Mr.  Gladstone's  motion.  Upon  a  division,  the  Government 
obtained  a  majority  of  nearly  two  hundred  votes. 

Many  circumstances  combined  to  nake  the  financial  outlook 
depressing,  and  Mr.  Disraeli's  supporters  looked  forward  to  his 
budget  with  not  a  little  anxiety  and  trepidation.  But  when  the 
statement  was  made,  it  obtained  favor  with  the  country  general- 
ly ;  and  what  contributed  largely  to  its  success  in  the  House,  Mr. 
Gladstone's  speech  on  the  subject  wae  very  friendly  to  the 
schemes  which  were  there  proposed. 

The  next  series  of  duties  in  which  we  frpd  Mr.  Gladstone  en- 
gaged differ  so  widely  from  the  Parliamentary  routine  which  ha? 
been  described  in  the  present  chapter,  that  Usoonsideration 
well  be  postponed  to  the  next  division  of  ihfs  b 


CHAPTER   VII. 


THE  PALMERSTON  MINISTRY. 

Lord  Macaulay — Eminent  Men  in  Parliament  —The  Ionian  Islands — Agitation  in 
Greece  —  Parliamentary  Reform— Foreign  Eelations  of  England  —  Mr. 
Bright's  Return  to  Parliament — A  Man  Ahead  of  His  Time — Controversy 
Over  the  Reform  Bill — Mr.  Gladstone's  Speech  on  the  Pending  Question- 
Defeat  of  the  Ministry — Appeal  to  the  Country — Palmerston  in  Office — 
Fear  of  Invasion  by  France— Tax  on  Paper — Proceedings  in  the  House  of 
Lords — Liberals  and  Tories— Lord  Russell  Withdraws  His  Reform  Bill — 
Cross  Purposes  in  Parliament — Rivalry  Among  Opposing  Factions. 

'HE  Ministry  which  came  into  power  at  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1858,  was,  from  a  literary  point  of  view,  a  re- 
markable one  j  and  one  which  wouJd  bo  almost  if  not  quite 
impossible  in  America,  where  the  necessity  of  achieving 
name  and  place  by  his 
own  exertions  renders  it 
less  likely  that  a  man 
can  succeed  in  many  di- 
rections. The  Earl  of 
Derby  may  become  emin- 
ent in  literature  aiid  poli- 
tics with  less  exertion 
than  is  required  for  an 
Abraham  Lincoln  to  gain 
admittance  to  the  bar ;  it 
is  for  this  reason  that 
we  find  so  many  English 
statesmen  and  so  few 
Americans  excelling  in 
other  things  than  state- 
craft. It  is  true  that  all 
scholarly  British  states- 
men do  not  reach  the  em-  Lord  Macaulay. 
inence  in  letters  of  Macaulay,  who  died  about  the  period  we 
have  now  reached  in  this  history.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  Ma- 

J79 


180  The  Palmer ston  Ministry. 

caulay,  who  figures  with  some  prominence  in  the  early  stages  of 
this  narrative,  in  order  to  become  great  as  an  historian  and  es- 
sayist, was  obliged  to  retire  almost  entirely  from  the  strife  for 
political  honors. 

At  the  head  of  the  Government  at  this  date  was  that  brilliant, 
impulsive  speaker,  whose  words  were  sometimes  fiery  eloquence, 
and  sometimes  grandiloquent  nonsense;  who  was  often  carried 
away  by  the  passions  which,  subdued,  he  might  have  used  as  ef- 
ficient weapons  against  the  evils  of  the  cause  which  had  aroused 
them;  whose  blunders  often  lost  the  victories  which  his  head- 
long daring  had  almost  won,  so  that  Disraeli,  his  brilliant  sub- 
ordinate had  already  christened  him  "The  Rupert  of  Debate/" 
after  the  fiery  Stuart;  he  was  long  eminent  as  a  statesman,  first 
as  Lord  Stanley,  afterward  becoming  Earl  of  Derby,  but  had  not 
at  this  time  become  known  as  a  translator  of  the  Iliad,  which 
will  more  surely  perpetuate  his  name  and  fame  than  any  repu- 
tation which  he  ever  acquired  within  the  walls  of  Parliament. 

That  chief  subordinate,  and  the  leader  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, was  better  known  and  more  highly  esteemed  as  a  novelist 
than  when  he  first  entered  Parliament;  his  reputation  as  a  wri- 
ter, indeed,  grew  with  his  rank  as  a  statesman,  and  the  novels 
which  had  been  looked  upon  as  the  mere  ebullitions  of  an  ec- 
centricity which  he  himself  mistook  for  genius,  were  now  rank- 
ed as  the  productions  of  a  new  school  of  fiction.  The  Right 
Honorable  Benjamin  Disraeli,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  and 
Leader  of  the  House  of  Commons,  was  quite  a  different  person- 
age from  that  loud-looking  youth  whose  first  speech  had  so  en- 
tertained the  Commons. 

Aside  from  Lord  John  Manners,  who  was  in  control  of  the 
Woods  and  Forests,  and  Lord  Stanley,  who  became,  on  the  death 
of  his  father,  the  fifteenth  Earl  of  Derby,  and  attained  some 
eminence  in  the  arena  of  politics,  there  is  but  one  other  name 
in  the  list  that  is  familiar  to  our  ears  ;  and  he  is  less  known  to 
us  in  the  world  of  politics  than  in  the  world  of  letters.  Edward 
Lytton-Buhvcr,  born  the  same  j'ear  as  Disraeli,  and  consequent, 
ly  bewcen  four  and  five  years  older  than  Gladstone,  had  enter- 
ed Parliament  when  barely  twenty-one.  It  would  have  been 
lorg  before  he  achieved  eminence  as  an  orator,  for  the  few 
speeches  which  he  made  in  the  course  of  his  parliamentary  ca- 
reer were  rather  thoughtful  and  earnest,  evincing  a  large  and 
liberal  view  of  national  interests,  than  brilliant  and  "taking." 


The  Palmerston  Ministry,  181 

Ho  began  life  as  an  extreme  advocate  of  Reform  measures ;  and 
he  was  scarcely  thirty  when  he  published  one  of  the  most  pow- 
erful political  pamphlets  of  the  century ;  a  form  of  support 
which  was  so  grateful  to  Lord  Melbourne  that  the  author  was 
at  once  offered  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet.  This,  however,  he  de- 
clined; but  accepted  the  baronetcy  which  in  1838  was  conferred 
for  that  and  similar  services  to  the  party  then  in  power.  Suc- 
ceeding in  1844  to  the  estates  of  his  mother's  family,  he  assumed 
her  name  in  connection  with  that  of  his  father,  and  became  Sir 
Edward  Bulwcr-Lytton.  About  the  time  that  Gladstone  finally 
left  the  Conservative  party  (if  that  expression  can  be  used  as  in- 
dicating any  definite  period),  Bulwer-Lytton  took  the  opposite 
step,  and  left  the  Liberals  for  the  Conservatives.  He  had  not 
been  in  the  Derby  administration  as  it  was  originally  formed  ; 
but  when  Lord  Ellenborough  resigned  the  control  of  Indian 
affairs,  Lord  Stanley,  who  had  been  Colonial  Secretary,  was 
transferred  to  this  position,  and  the  brilliant  novelist  appointed 
to  the  place  thus  vacated.  Perhaps  it  was  natural  that  when 
the  necessity  arose  for  sending  a  special  envoy  to  Greece,  a  man 
like  Bulwer-Lytton  should  think  of  a  representative  who  had 
already  distinguished  himself  in  literature  by  his  studies  of 
Homer;  and  the  Premier  who  was  afterward  to  bo  known  as 
the  translator  of  the  Iliad  would  bo  likely  to  see  a  fitness  in  the 
selection.  The  comments  upon  this  appointment  were  not  alto- 
gether favorable.  "A  writer  of  novels  is  leader  of  the  House 
of  Commons,"  said  the  scandalized  politicians  who  did  not  pre- 
tend to  scholarship  ;  "and  he  has  another  writer  of  novels  at  his 
side  as  Colonial  Secretary;  worse  than  that,  he  is  actually  a 
playwright;  and  between  them  they  can  think  of  nothing  bet- 
ter than  to  send  out  a  man  to  the  Ionian  Islands  to  listen  to  the 
tirades  of  Greek  demagogues  simply  because  he  happens  to  be 
fond  of  reading  Homer." 

This  reader  of  the  blind  old  bard  was  Mr.  Gladstone,  who  had 
already  become  well  known  as  a  scholar  in  this  special  depart- 
ment ;  we  have  not  hitherto  traced  his  literary  course,  reserving 
that  for  another  time,  when  our  pages  shall  be  free  from  the 
rush  and  whirl  of  political  action. 

The  Ionian  Islands  had  been  erected  in  the  year  1800  into  the 
Republic  of  the  Seven  United  Islands  ;  in  1815,  they  were  placed 
under  the  Protectorate  of  Great  Britain;  a  few  years  later  had 
come  the  assertion  of  the  independence  of  Greece,  finally  ac- 


182  The  Palmerston  Ministry. 

knowledged  by  the  Powers,  and  forced  upon  Turkey.  For  many 
years  after  the  achievement  of  this  condition,  the  lonians  had 
looked  longingly  upon  the  country  to  which  they  naturally  be- 
longed by  race,  tradition  and  geographical  position ;  but  they 
had  no  cause  for  formal  complaint,  and  were  not  strong  enough 
to  assert  themselves  by  force.  They  could  only  await  the  action 
of  England. 

That  tha  sympathy  of  England  was  on  the  side  of  popular  liberty 
was  well  understood  and  needed  no  formal  proof.     A  weak  power, 


Lord  John  Manners. 

or  a  feeble  people  struggling  to  be  free,  can  always  depend  upon 
the  active  support  of  the  masses  of  the  people  everywhere.  For 
years  the  lonians  had  been  dissatisfied  and  earnestly  striving  to 
better  their  condition. 

The  popular  constitution  which  had  been  given  them  about 
ten  years  before  this  time  did  not  do  away  with  this  desire 
to  be  united  to  Greece;  it  only  enabled  the  people  to  express 
their  wish  in  a  manner  which  would  command  more  attention 
in  England,  because  it  was  intensely  respectable;  the  protest 
of  a  legislature  is  or  may  be  worth  listening  to,  while  the 
wish  of  the  people  expressed  by  themselves  directly,  is  not 


The  Palmerston  Ministry.  183 

to  be  regarded,  lest  it  lead  to  revolution.  And  now  press,  leg- 
islature and  people  had  but  one  voice,  and  with  that  were  cry- 
ing out  for  freedom. 

Were  they  not  free?  asked  the  British  Government.  They 
had  a  constitution  which  guaranteed  their  rights,  as  the  English 
had  theirs;  they  had  their  Legislative  Assembly  of  forty  mem- 
bers, and  a  Senate  of  a  round  half  dozen.  What  if  they  were 
presided  over  by  an  English  Lord  High  Commissioner?  His 
position  was  but  an  emblem  of  the  watchful  care  which  England 
kept  over  them.  But  the  unreasonable  Greeks  were  not  satis- 
fied. All  this  was  very  true :  they  had  a  constitution  and  a  rep- 
resentative government,  and  the  English  authorities  had  made 
excellent  roads,  improved  the  harbors,  established  regular  com- 
munication by  steamships  with  the  rest  of  the  world — far  great- 
er conveniences  than  King  Otho's  subjects  had;  but  still  these 
unreasonable  Greeks  did  not  think  themselves  free  so  long  as 
this  Lord  High  Commissioner  was  also  Commander-in-Chief  of 
a  considerable  body  of  British  troops  garrisoned  among  them. 
And  though  they  had  a  representative  assembly,  the  Lord  High 
Commissioner  aforesaid  had  a  very  ugly  trick  of  dissolving  it 
whenever  it  declined  to  legislate  as  he  wished  it  to  do.  Taking 
it  all  in  all,  they  did  not  quite  believe  the  Englishmen  who  said 
that  the  Ionian  Islands  enjoyed  the  blessings  of  liberty. 

The  more  loudly  an  Ionian  politician  exclaimed  against  this 
order  of  things,  the  more  pleasing  he  was  to  the  people;  and 
the  more  the  people  clamored  for  freedom,  the  angrier  grew  the 
English  public  at  such  ingratitude.  There  were  but  fe\v  men 
in  public  life  in  England  who  were  not  thoroughly  disgusted 
with  the  unreasonable  Greeks ;  and  this  feeling  was  shared  by 
some  eminent  Frenchmen;  notably  by  M.  Edmond  About, 
whose  description  of  the  excellent  roads  in  these  islands  is  so 
earnest  that  we  may  almost  imagine  that  he  wrote  with  tears  in 
his  eyes.  Others  there  were,  of  broader  sympathies,  who  saw 
how  far  the  Greeks  were  right;  and  of  this  number  were  the 
Colonial  Secretary  and  his  newly  chosen  envoy. 

Although  Mr.  Gladstone  was  simply  dispatched  upon  a  com- 
mission of  inquiry,  his  appointment  for  that  purpose  was  hailed 
by  the  Greeks  as  clear  evidence  that  the  English  Government 
intended  to  abandon  its  Protectorate  over  the  Islands.  The  En- 
glish Government  had  no  such  intention;  at  least,  it  was  not  def- 
initely understood  what  would  he  best;  but  just  at  this  time  two 


184  The  Palmer -ston  Ministry. 

dispatches  were  published  by  the  News  which  ought  to  have  been 
kept  private  until  acted  upon,  but  which  some  enterprising  re- 
porter had  got  hold  of.  They  were  written  by  the  Lord  High 
Commissioner,  and  recommended  that  all  the  islands  except 
Corfu  should  be  abandoned  to  their  own  will.  This  excepted 
island  was  to  bo  retained  as  a  military  post.  A  dispatch  written 
by  the  Colonial  Secretary  about  the  same  time  seemed  to  point 
the  same  way,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  was  received  with  all  the  effu- 
siveness of  welcome  of  which  the  people  of  a  Southern  race 
can  show  themselves  possessed.  He  at  once  set  to  work  to  as- 
certain how  far  the  clamor  for  separation  from  England  and  an- 
nexation to  Greece  was  the  voice  of  the  people,  and  how  far  it 
was  simply  the  loud-mouthed  vociferations  of  blatant  dema- 
gogues. He  seems  to  have  been  speedily  convinced  that  this 
popular  movement  was  one  worthy  the  respect  of  all  liberty-lov- 
ing men.  After  a  number  of  weeks  spent  in  the  Islands,  the 
matter  was  formally  presented  to  the  Ionian  Parliament,  in  the 
form  of  a  proposal  to  annex  their  republic  to  the  kingdom  of 
Greece.  This  obtained  the  assent  of  the  representatives,  and  a 
petition  to  that  effect  was  presented  to  Mr.  Gladstone.  In  in- 
forming the  English  sovereign  of  the  result  of  his  mission,  he 
stated  that  "the  single  and  unanimous  will  of  the  Ionian  people 
has  been  and  is  for  their  union  with  the  kingdom  of  Greece." 
This  short  dispatch  tells  the  whole  story  of  his  embassy  and  the 
accomplishment  of  the  task  set  him.  A  couple  of  weeks  after- 
ward, he  left  for  England;  his  official  connection  with  the  Ionian 
Islands  was  at  an  end. 

Not  so  the  influence  which  he  had  over  their  fortunes.  The 
hopes  which  had  been  raised  by  his  appointment  were  not  to  be 
readily  dampened  by  his  return;  the  Greeks  continued  to  agi- 
tate more  strenuously  than  ever,  and  they  were  listened  to  with 
more  respect  at  the  Colonial  Office  and  in  Parliament,  since  so 
eminent  an  Englishman  had  become  impressed  with  the  justice 
of  their  claims.  It  was  some  years  before  the  final  result  of 
this  mission  was  achieved;  but  when  the  Ionian  Islands  at  last 
became  a  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Greece,  it  was  in  no  small 
measure  duo  to  the  influence  which  Mr.  Gladstone's  opinion  had 
upon  the"  councils  of  his  country. 

Mr.  Gladstone  returned  to  England  in  February,  1859.  The 
Derby  Ministry  had  been  in  office  scarcely  a  year.  It  was  al- 
ready beginning  to  show  signs  of  weakness,  of  that  inevitable 


The  Palmerston  Ministry. 


185 


loss  of  power  which  sooner  or  later  comes  to  every   Govern- 
ment. 

There  wore  two  important  questions  before  the  public  mind  at 
this  juncture:  Parliamentary  Reform  and  the  state  of  the  foreign 
relations  of  England.  The  measure  which  had  excited  such  en- 
mity in  the  early  thirties  had  become  an  insufficient  measure  for 


Mr.  Speaker. 

the  progressive  champions  of  the  people's  rights;  and  a  further 
extension  of  the  suffrage  was  loudly  demanded.  Unable  to 
struggle  against  the  unmistakable  expression  of  the  popular  will, 
the  G-overnment  had  pledged  itself  to  bring  in  a  Reform  Bill ; 
but  this  had  rather  excited  than  allayed  the  popular  feeling. 


186  The  Palmerston  Ministry. 

It  was  hardly  a  time  at  which  to  bring  up  such  a  measure ; 
for  all  Europe  was  trembling  at  the  innovations  which  were  be- 
ing introduced,  and  a  country  like  England  would  seem  to  have 
desired  rather  a  continuance  of  the  old  state  of  things  at  this 
period  of  revolution.  Under  the  auspices  of  Cavour,  who  had 
spent  some  time  in  England,  and  was  a  warm  admirer  of  the  En- 
glish system  of  Government,  the  petty  state  of  which  he  was  a 
subject  had  been  modeled  after  the  great  empire,  and  Sardinia 
had,  in  consequence,  attained  a  rank  as  a  constitutional  mon- 
archy for  which  she  would  otherwise  have  striven  in  vain.  This 
country  had  first  been  heard  of  in  European  politics,  as  a  state 
which  was  at  all  worthy  of  consideration,  during  the  Crimean 
War,  when  it  became  the  ally  of  England  and  France.  Savoy 
had  grown  into  Sardinia,  Sardinia  was  soon  to  grow  into  Italy. 

It  is  not  probable  that  the  Premier  had  any  decided  wish  for 
Parliamentary  Reform.  He  had  thrown  himself,  heart  and  soul, 
into  the  work  when  the  subject  was  first  brought  to  the  serious 
attention  of  Parliament;  but  that  had  been  nearly  thirty  years 
before  this  time,  and  age  was  beginning  to  cool  the  ardor  of  his 
nature.  The  chief  advocate  of  a  further  extension  of  the  suf- 
frage had  been  Lord  John  Russell,  who  had  brought  forward  such 
a  bill  in  1852,  and  supported  it  with  all  his  powers  only  to  have 
it  fail.  Disraeli  was  now  eager  for  Reform,  because  he  saw  clear- 
ly enough  that  it  was  the  only  means  by  which  the  Conserva- 
tives could  hope  to  retain  power;  the  instant  the  Government 
should  venture  to  oppose  or  disregard  the  popular  wish,  that  in- 
stant their  divided  opponents  would  unite,  and  the  union  would 
be  fatal  to  the  foes  of  Reform. 

But  chief  among  those  who  advocated  the  passage  of  such  a 
measure  was  that  sturdy  Quaker  whose  earnestness  in  the  cause 
of  the  people  has  grown  stronger  and  strong-er  as  the  years  have 
gone  by.  John  Bright  had  been  out  of  Parliament  for  several 
years,  on  account  of  ill  health,  when  in  1857  he  was  returned  for 
Birmingham.  In  the  first  period  of  his  parliamentary  life,  he 
had  been  one  of  the  most  ardent  supporters  of  the  Free  Trade 
system;  and  he  was  perhaps  the  most  widely  known  advocate 
of  it;  certainly  there  was  no  one  else  who  permitted  himself  to 
be  so  completely  absorbed  by  this  measure.  He  was  one  of  the 
delegates  sent  by  the  Society  of  Friends  to  the  Czar,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Crimean  War,  to  intercede  for  peace.  This  had 
been  his  last  public  act  in  this  first  period.  His  return  to  Parlia- 


The  Palmerston  Ministry.  187 

ment  was  signalized  by  his  opposition  to  the  Conspiracy  Bill, 
which  was  the  cause  of  Lord  Palmerston's  going  out  of  office; 
he  now  threw  himself  with  all  his  strength  into  this  effort  to  se- 
cure a  more  universal  suffrage,  and  never  relaxed  his  endeavors 
until  the  attainment  of  that  object,  nearly  twenty  years  after 
Lord  Derby  went  out  of  office. 

Bright's  return  to  public  life  seemed  almost  like  a  resurrec- 
tion, so  fully  had  people  been  convinced  that  he  would  be  heard 
no  more.  It  was  small  wonder,  then,  that  his  audiences  should 
be  large  and  enthusiastic.  His  efforts  were  not  wholly  successful; 
though  the  popular  outcry  was  loud,  it  was  not  universal;  try- 
ing to  arouse  a  Eeform  spirit  in  the  North,  Bright  himself  said, 
was  "  like  flogging  a  dead  horse."  The  upper  and  middle  class- 
es cared  very  little  about  the  question,  for  their  rights  had  been 
assured  by  the  measure  of  1832 ;  it  was  mainly  the  laboring 
classes  who  were  now  dissatisfied  ;  and  many  of  the  Conserva- 
tives were  inclined  to  treat  the  demand  as  the  mere  outcry  of 
professional  agitators.  Bright  himself  was  generally  regarded 
by  parliamentarians  as  only  an  eloquent  and  respectable  dema- 
gogue; and  most  of  the  Conservatives,  and  some  of  the  "Whigs, 
were  inclined  to  look  upon  him  as  scarcely  worthy  of  being  ta- 
ken into  account.  Perhaps  the  Conservative  who  had  the  high- 
est opinion  of  him  was  no  other  than  Mr.  Disraeli,  who  saw  that 
the  Manchester  orator  must  be  taken  into  account  as  a  genuine 
political  power. 

Mr.  Bright  was  persuaded  to  formulate  a  bill,  expressing  his 
ideas  on  this  momentous  question  of  public  policy;  but  as  might 
have  been  expected,  his  views  were  not  those  of  the  Ministry. 
His  enemies  said  it  was  such  a  measure  as  Jack  Cade  might  have 
proposed,  had  that  ancient  agitator  ever  got  so  far  as  the  subject 
of  Parliamentary  Reform ;  he  had  so  few  friends,  as  far  as  this 
bill  was  concerned,  that  it  did  not  make  much  matter  what  they 
said.  Certainly  the  bill  had  but  few  supporters,  though  it  was 
so  nearly  like  that  which  the  party  adopted  later  that  we  can 
only  rate  Bright  as  far  ahead  of  his  time. 

Disraeli,  who  saw  that  he  could  not  resist  the  tendency  in  that 
direction,  had  been  studying  the  question  of  Eeform,  and  was 
ready  with  a  bill  at  the  beginning  of  the  session  of  1859.  It  was 
essentially'a  Conservative  measure,  since  it  left  things  very  near- 
ly as  it  found  them.  The  great  need  of  the  time  was  a  law  which 
would  not  only  increase  the  number  of  voters,  but  would  extend 


188  The  Palmerston  Ministry. 

the  franchise  to  classes  which  were  as  yet  without  representation) 
but  Disraeli's  plan  did  not  aim  at  this.  It  was  said  by  one  of  the 
opposite  party  that  it  looked  like  a  bill  framed  to  increase  the 
Conservative  majority;  and  that  was  doubtless  its  intention. 
The  chief  change  which  was  made  was  the  extension  of  the  fran- 
chise to  persons  who  had  property  in  the  funds,  bank  stock,  or 
stock  in  the  East  India  Company,  also  to  those  who  had  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  money  in  savings-banks  or  received  a  pension 
from  the  Government,  and  to  certain  professional  classes  which 
had  not  hitherto  been  permitted  a  vote.  "  The  working-classes 
cried  out  for  the  franchise,  and  Mr.  Disraeli  proposed  to  answer 
the  cry  by  giving  the  vote  to  graduates  of  universities,  medical 
practitioners  and  schoolmasters." 

The  bill  passed  the  first  reading  by  a  party  vote,  procured  by 
the  unflagging  efforts  of  the  "Whigs.  But  the  bill  was  not  a  fav- 
orite with  the  Conservative  party  itself.  The  Home  Secretary 
urged  that  no  member  of  the  Ministry  would  support  such  a  bill, 
were  it  brought  forward  by  Lord  John  Eussell  or  Lord  Palmer- 
ston j  and  he  urged  this  in  a  letter  in  which  he  conveyed  his  res- 
ignation to  the  Premier.  Mr.  Henley,  the  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trade,  followed  the  example  of  Mr.  Walpole.  When 
the  bill  which  had  thus  won  the  contempt  of  its  proposer's  party 
friends  came  up  for  a  second  reading,  it  met  with  hard  treatment 
at  the  hands  of  his  foes.  Lord  John  Russell  moved  an  amend- 
ment to  the  effect  that  the  proposed  readjustment  of  the  county 
franchise  was  unsatisfactory  to  the  House,  and  that  any  bill 
which  attempted  to  deal  with  this  question  ought  to  include  a 
plan  for  the  greater  extension  of  the  suffrage  in  cities  and  bor- 
roughs.  The  experienced  statesman  supported  this  amendment 
with  an  able  speech,  expressing  in  touching  language  his  long- 
continued  efforts  for  Parliamentary  Reform  j  and  the  debate  be- 
came animated. 

Mr.  Bright  and  his  immediate  adherents  of  course  opposed  the 
measure  of  the  Ministry,  as  it  was  very  far  from  their  ideas  of 
what  such  a  bill  should  be.  More  moderate  Liberals  thought  it 
could  be  so  modified  in  Committee  as  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  the  time.  Mr.  Gladstone,  who,  in  the  division  which  followed, 
voted  against  the  amendment,  found  it  necessary  to  explain  his 
course  in  a  somewhat  lengthy  speech,  an  abstract  of  which  will 
state  the  objections  to  this  bill,  and  also  the  difficulties  ensuing 
from  its  rejection,  more  clearly  than  is  otherwise  possible. 


The  Palmerston  Ministry.  189 

As  there  was  no  controversy  traceable  to  differences  between 
political  parties,  but  a  remarkable  unanimity  on  all  sides  with 
~egard  to  the  necessity  for  Reform,  he  regretted  that  the  House 
was  now  in  debate  which  would  estrange  those  whose  united  ef- 
forts were  necessery  to  a  satisfactory  settlement.  He  objected 
to  the  form  of  the  resolution,  and  only  the  weakness  of  the  Gov- 
ernment could  induce  him  to  vote  for  it.  Like  all  others  of  the 
time,  he  saw  grave  evils  arising  from  a  change  at  this  juncture; 
and  the  Liberals^especially  had  cause  to  fear  such  a  change,  for 
they  would  be  called  to  power,  and  that  would  only  emphasize 
the  divisions  in  that  party.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  now  identified 
with  the  Liberals,  the  name  Peelite  having  gone  almost  com- 
pletely out  of  use.  He  next  proceeded  to  sketch  the  history  of 
Reform  as  his  own  recollection  afforded  him  the  materials  : 

"In  1851  my  noble  friend  [Lord  J.  Russell],  then  the  First 
Minister  of  the  Crown,  approached  the  question  of  Reform,  and 
commenced  with  a  promise  of  what  was  to  be  done  twelve 
months  afterward.  In  1852  he  brought  in  a  bill,  and  it  disap- 
peared, together  with  the  Ministry.  In  1853  we  had  the  Ministry 
of  Lord  Aberdeen,  which  commenced  with  a  promise  of  Reform 
in  twelve  months'  time.  Well,  1854  arrived;  with  it  arrived  the 
bill,  but  with  it  also  arrived  the  war,  and  in  the  war  was  a  rea- 
son, and  I  believe  a  good  reason,  for  abandoning  the  bill.  Then 
came  the  Government  of  my  noble  friend  the  member  for  Tiver- 
ton  [Palmerston]  which  was  not  less  unfortunate  in  the  circum- 
stances which  prevented  the  redemption  of  those  pledges  which 
had  been  given  to  the  people  from  the  mouth  of  the  Sovereign 
on  the  throne.  In  1855  my  noble  friend  escaped  all  responsibil- 
ity for  a  Reform  Bill  on  account  of  the  war;  in  1856  he  escaped 
all  responsibility  for  Reform  on  account  of  the  peace  ;  in  1857 
he  escaped  that  inconvenient  responsibility  by  the  dissolution  of 
Parliament;  and  in  1858  he  escaped  again  by  the  dissolution  of 
his  Government." 

Frequently  interrupted  by  the  cheers  and  laughter  of  the  House 
while  thus  summing  up  the  history  of  Reform  during  the  past 
seven  or  eight  years,  the  speaker  proceeded  to  point  the  moral 
of  this  "ower  true  tale."  The  people  had  come  to  think  that  the 
House  was  only  too  willing  to  oppose  this  question;  and  this 
had  made  it  hazardous  to  oppose  the  bill.  He  did  not  advocate 
the  passage  of  the  bill,  however,  as  it  stood,  but  urged  strongly 
the  reduction  of  the  qualification,  and  declared  that  the  small 


190  The  Palmerston  Ministry. 

boroughs  deserved  more  consideration:  They  wer,e  the  nursery 
ground  of  men  who  were  destined  to  lead  the  House  and  be  an 
ornament  to  their  country,  he  said  ;  and  he  maintained  that  the 
extension  and  durability  of  English  liberty  ,vere  to  be  attributed, 
under  Providence,  to  distinguished  statesmen  introduced  into 
the  House  at  an  early  age.  Upon  al)  these  grounds  he  urged 
the  House  to  go  into  committee,  thus  to  discuss  the  bill  more 
freely,  and  to  make  such  alterations  as  might  be  necessary. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  rules  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons preclude  any  member  from  speaking  twice  on  the  same 
subject ;  but  if  the  House  go  into  committee,  the  Speaker  leaving 
the  chair,  this  restriction  is  removed  and  a  freer  discussion 
thereby  made  possible. 

The  division  was  taken  shortly  after  the  conclusion  of  Mr. 
Gladstone's  speech.  Though  the  House  of  Commons  consisted 
of  six  hundred  and  fifty-eight  members,  it  is  rare  that  over  five 
hundred  take  part  in  a  division  ;  and  the  House  frequently  ad- 
journs for  lack  of  the  necessary  quorum  of  forty.  On  this  occa- 
sion, however,  there  were  present  the  almost  unprecedented  num- 
ber of  six  hundred  and  twenty-one  members;  and  by  this  pro- 
portion of  the  House  was  the  momentous  question  decided. 

The  division  was  taken,  and  showed  that  the  Opposition  had  a 
majority  of  thirty-nine.  This  was  a  surprise  to  the  members  of 
the  Government,  and  indeed  to  the  Liberals  j  for  the  whole  ques- 
tion was  so  open,  and  party  lines  so  confused,  that  the  wisest  old 
politician  in  the  House  could  hardly  have  foretold  the  result  with 
certainty. 

Lord  Derby  decided  to  appeal  to  the  country  j  a  step  which 
occasioned  much  inconvenience,  said  John  Bright,  but  was  con- 
stitutional and  perhaps  necessary.  Parliament  was  prorogued 
April  19th,  and  dissolved  the  next  day.  Writs  were  now  is- 
sued for  a  new  election,  returnable  at  once  ;  and  the  new  Parlia- 
ment met  May  31st.  In  this  assembly,  Mr.  Gladstone  again  sat 
for  the  University  of  Oxford.  The  Government  was  in  a  con- 
siderable minority  in  the  new  House,  and  the  effects  of  this  state 
of  affairs  were  felt  at  once.  A  week  had  been  spent  in  swearing 
in  new  members,  so  that  it  was  not  until  the  7th  of  June  that 
Her  Majesty  opened  Parliament  in  person,  it  having  been  opened 
by  commission  upon  first  assembling.  The  first  business  was  the 
preparation  of  an  address  to  the  Queen  ;  the  regular  routine  at 
the  beginning  of  the  session  ;  and  to  this  address,  as  moved  in 


The  Palmerston  Ministry. 


191 


the  House  of  Commons,  the  Marquis  of  Hartington  offered  an 
amendment.  This  was  equivalent  to  proposing  a  vote  of  want  of 
confidence,  and  the  result  was  eagerly  looked  for.  The  debate 
lasted  three  nights,  and  terminated  with  a  division  which  showed 
a  majority  of  nineteen  against  the  Ministry.  Having  been  twice 
defeated  in  the  House,  there  was  no  option  but  for  them  to  re- 
sign ;  and  resign  they  did. 


Lord  Palmerston. 

The  Liberal  party,  to  whom  the  power  had  thus  fallen,  was 
divided  against  itself j  Lord  John  Russell  headed  one  portion, 
while  Lord  Palmerston  was  the  chief  of  the  other.  A  coolness 
had  existed  between  these  two  for  some  time,  though  it  was  said 
that  at  the  date  of  Lord  Derby's  resignation  they  had  been  re- 
conciled, and  would  act  together.  But  it  was  at  least  doubtfuf 
how  long  Russell  would  endure  Palmerston  as  his  chief,  and  more 
than  doubtful  whether  Palmerston  would  consent  to  act  under 
Russell.  In  this  dilemma,  the  Queen  sent  for  Lord  Granville, 


192  The  Palmerston  Ministry. 

who  was  the  confessed  leader  of  the  Liberal  Party  in  the  House 
of  Lords  j  and  gave  him  her  command  to  form  a  Ministry. 

Contrary  to  precedent,  a  portion  of  the  interview  in  which 
this  arrangement  was  made  was  published  in  the  Times;  and  it  is 
from  this  article  that  we  learn  the  reasons  for  this  choice,  as  well 
as  the  Queen's  fear  of  offending  either  of  these  eminent  states- 
men by  nominating  the  other  to  the  highest  honor  in  her  gift. 
The  publication  of  this  account  was  regarded  by  some  of  the 
stricter  politicians  of  the  old  school  as  the  sign  of  a  general 
breaking  up  of  all  the  boundaries  of  decency  and  respect  for 
royalty;  but  was  easily  and  naturally  explained  by  Lord  Gran- 
ville,  who  had  obtained  permission  to  state  to  his  political  friends 
what  had  occurred,  and  the  interview  had  thus  indirectly  got 
around  to  the  newspaper. 

But  the  Queen  did  not  understand  her  ex-ministers  as  well  as 
she  thought.  For  some  reason,  which  is  not  clearly  explained, 
Lord  John  Russell  declined  to  serve  under  Lord  G-ranville,  but 
professed  his  readiness  to  accept  office  in  a  Palmerston  Govern- 
ment. Under  such  circumstances,  Lord  Granville  having  con- 
fessed that  he  would  not  form  a  Cabinet,  the  post  was  offered  to 
Lord  Palmerston. 

Three  of  the  important  offices  in  this  Ministry  were  filled  by 
the  same  men  who  had  occupied  those  posts  in  the  first  Palmer- 
ston administration  ;  of  these,  we  are  most  interested  in  the  per- 
formance of  the  duties  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
which  Mr.  Gladstone  was  again  called  upon  to  perform.  Regard- 
ing this  appointment,  Molesworth,  whose  "History  of  England 
from  the  Year  1830,"  John  Bright  commends  as  "  honestly  writ- 
ten," uses  the  following  language  : 

"Another  gentleman  whose  accession  to  the  Ministry  gave  it 
great  streugth  and  stability,  and  whose  presence  in  it  was  per- 
haps necessary  to  its  existence,  certainly  to  its  permanence,  was 
Mr.  Gladstone.  He  had  to  face  a  strong  contest  for  his  seat  for 
the  University  of  Oxford  ;  but  his  friends  succeeded,  though  not 
without  difficulty,  in  obtaining  his  re-election,  notwithstanding 
the  opposition  of  many  members  of  the  university  who  had  for- 
merly given  him  their  support,  but  who  were  becoming  intoler- 
ant of  the  more  and  more  pronounced  liberality  of  his  views, 
and  whoso  anger  and  suspicions  were  further  roused  by  his  ac- 
ceptance of  office  in  the  Palmerston  administration." 
Although  Mr.  Gladstone  had  at  such  length  explained  that  his 


The  Palmerston  Ministry.  193 

vote  for  Mr.  Disraeli's  Keform  Bill  was  merely  given  because  he 
feared  the  results  of  a  change  of  Government,  and  was  not  an 
indorsement  either  of  the  measure  itself,  or  of  the  general  course 
of  the  Ministry  which  had  framed  it,  his  opponent  in  this  elec- 
tion was  not  slow  to  accuse  him  of  tergiversation  in  accepting 
office  immediately  in  the  Ministry  formed  by  Lord  Derby's  op- 
ponent and  successor.  This  charge  was  best  answered  by  a  plain 
unvarnished  statement  of  the  facts  in  the  case,  and  quotations 
from  Mr.  Gladstone's  speech  on  that  occasion  ;  and  seems  to  have 
been  lightly  thought  of  by  the  electors ;  for  the  vote  of  859  for 
Lord  Chandos  against  1050  for  Mr.  Gladstone  is  not  a  large  one, 
when  we  consider  how  deeply  Mr.  Gladstone's  liberalistic  ten- 
dencies had  offended  many  of  the  electors  long  before  he  signal- 
ized those  tendencies  by  his  course  on  the  present  occasion. 

The  Palmerston  Ministry  had  been  formed  early  in  June  ;  the 
nominations  at  Oxford  took  place  the  27th  of  the  same  month, 
and  the  polling  continued  for  five  days.  But  the  new  Chancel- 
lor of  the  Exchequer  had  his  budget  ready  the  18th  of  July.  His 
speech  was  given  the  same  flattering  reception  which  had  al- 
ways been  accorded  him,  the  strict  attention  which  was  so  rarely 
given  to  speeches  on  financial  questions.  It  was  a  thoroughly 
simple  and  at  the  same  time  a  thoroughly  honest  measure.  He 
had  to  provide  for  a  large  addition  to  the  naval  and  military  es- 
tablishments, in  consequence  of  which  it  was  estimated  that 
while  the  revenue  for  the  ensuing  year  would  be  £64,340,000,  the 
expenditure  would  be  £69,207,000.  True  to  the  principle  upon 
which  he  had  acted  when  the  war  created  such  an  enormous  deficit 
in  the  estimated  revenue,  Mr.  Gladstone  did  not  propose  to  make 
up  this  deficiency  of  nearly  five  million  pounds  by  a  loan,  or  by 
any  of  the  expedients  usually  adopted  by  those  Chancellors  of 
the  Exchequer  who  are  desirous  only  of  delaying  the  evil.  By 
an  addition  of  4d  in  the  pound  to  the  tax  on  incomes  above  £150, 
a  penny  stamp  on  bankers'  cheques  drawn  across  the  counter, 
and  by  the  diminution  of  the  malt  credits  from  eighteen  to 
twelve  weeks,  thus  anticipating  a  portion  of  the  next  year's  in- 
come, he  calculated  that  the  deficit  would  be  met  without  adding 
to  the  debt. 

This  budget  was  of  course  attacked  by  Mr.  Disraeli,  who  ob- 
jected to  the  raising  of  seventy  millions  annually,  and  urged 
that  it  would  be  better  to  have  some  understanding  with  France, 
so  that  the  expense  of  maintaining  the  army  might  be  material- 
's 


194  The  Palmerston  Ministry. 

\y  reduced.  It  may  hero  bo  noted  that  a  popular  movement  of 
this  year  accomplished  more  in  this  direction  than  any  speech 
which  was  made  in  the  House  of  Commons.  The  people  had  been 
considerably  alarmed  by  some  intemperate  language  used  by 
certain  French  officers;  there  was  a  regular  invasion  panic, 
which  the  Prime  Minister  is  said  to  have  encouraged.  The  re- 
sult of  this  was  the  formation  of  rifle  corps,  which,  surviving 
the  alarm  that  caused  them  to  be  organized,  made  the  reduction 
of  the  regular  army  possible,  without  reducing  at  the  same  time 
the  available  military  strength  to  resist  invasion. 

The  danger  of  invasion,  as  we  have  hinted,  was  supposed  to 
bo  from  France.  Though  the  two  countries  had  been  allies  in 
the  Crimean  War,  we  can  hardly  reckon  that  Napoleon  III.  was 
ever  very  popular  in  England,  or  ever  thoroughly  trusted  by  the 
bulk  of  the  thinking  people.  His  alliance  with  England  against 
Eussia  counted  for  nothing,  for  he  had  but  used  one  nation  as  a 
tool  with  which  to  wreak  his  vengeance  upon  the  other;  he  had 
extorted  Nice  and  Savoy  from  Sardinia,  as  the  price  of  the  sup- 
port in  the  war  between  Italy  and  Austria  which  Cavour  had 
forced  him  to  give;  ho  had  turned  against  Austria,  with  which 
ho  had  previously  been  in  firm  alliance;  and  it  was  doubtful 
which  would  bo  the  next  victim  of  his  rapacity,  Prussia  or  Eng- 
land. So  felt  the  people  of  the  time;  though  the  record  of  such 
fears  reads  strangely  enough  to  us  who  have  been  told  of  Sedan 
and  Chiselhurst,  and  of  that  fierce  sortie  of  Zulu  warriors,  which 
finally  extinguished  his  line. 

"Napoleon  III.,"  said  a  clever  epigramatist,  "deceived  Europe 
twice — once  in  persuading  it  that  he  was  an  idiot;  once  in  induc- 
ing it  to  believe  that  he  was  a  statesman."  At  this  time,  the  im- 
pression obtained  that  he  was  a  statesman,  and  had  the  English 
people  but  been  wise,  they  might  soon  have  discovered  that  Nice 
and  Savoy  were  not  what  he  thought  they  would  be  to  him ;  that 
the  Italians  had  decidedly  the  best  of  the  bargain.  But  they 
were  not  wise.  The  most  reasonable  and  harmless  actions  of  the 
French  Government  were  made  the  ground  of  suspicion  and 
alarm;  it  even  occasioned  uneasiness  that  the  Power  across  the 
channel  should  push  the  project  of  the  "  impracticable  Suez 
Canal."  It  was  under  such  circumstances  as  this  that  a  commer- 
cial treaty  with  France  was  proposed  in  the  early  days  of  1860; 
a  treaty  which  had  been  arranged  in  a  peculiar  way ;  Mr.  Cob- 
den,  who  was  looked  upon  as  being  much  safer  and  more  Con- 


The  Palmerston  Ministry. 


195 


servative  tnan  Mr.  Bright,  though  he  was  really  the  more  rest- 
less reformer,  was  sent  to  France  to  talk  the  matter  over  with 
the  Emperor.  Napoleon  III.  never  let  his  dignity  stand  in  the 
way  of  any  real  or  fancied  advantage,  and  readily  agreed  to  dis- 
cuss the  matter  thus  informally  with  Mr.  Cobden,  who  had  never 
held  office  under  the  British  Government,  though  Lord  Palmer- 
ston had  offered  him  the  Board  of  Trade  in  the  present  Ministry. 
This  arrangement  was  mainly  brought  about  by  Mr.  Gladstone, 
who  most  ardently  desired  the  treaty.  The  great  majority  of  the 
people  of  France  were  ardent  Protectionists  5  the  Emperor,  him- 
self, however,  was  a  Free 
Trader;  and  if  the  treaty 
should  be  concluded,  it  must 
be  by  the  exertion  of  his 
imperial  will  and  authority, 
not  by  any  consent  of  the 
representatives  of  the  peo- 
ple. 

The  treaty  itself  will  bo 
best  summed  up  in  the  words 
which  Mr.  Gladstone  used 
in  stating  its  provisions  to 
the  House  of  Commons. 
The  occasion  was  the  intro- 
duction of  the  budget  in 
February,  1860. 

"Perhaps,  sir,  as  the  com- 
mittee have  not  yet  had  an 
opportunity  of  reading  the  instrument  itself,  it  may  be  convenient 
that  I  should  in  the  first  place  state  to  them  very  briefly  the  princi- 
pal covenants.  First,  I  shall  take  the  engagements  of  France. 
France  engages  to  reduce  the  duty  on  English  coal  and  coke,  from 
the  1st  of  July,  1860  ;  on  tools  and  machinery,  from  the  1st  of  Dec- 
ember, 1860 ;  and  on  yarns,  and  goods  in  flax  and  hemp,  includ- 
ing, I  believe,  jute — this  last  an  article  comparatively  new  in 
commerce,  but  one  in  which  a  great  and  very  just  interest  is  felt 
in  some  great  trading  districts — from  the  1st  of  June,  1861.  That 
is  the  first  important  engagement  into  which  France  enters.  Her 
second  and  greater  engagement  is  postponed  to  the  1st  of  October 
1861.  I  think  it  is  probably  in  the  knowledge  of  the  committee, 
that  this  postponement  is  stipulated  under  a  pledge  given  by  the 


Richard  Cobden. 


196  The  Palmer ston  Ministry. 

Government  of  France  to  the  classes  who  there,  as  Here,  have 
supposed  themselves  to  be  interested  in  the  maintenance  of  pro- 
hibition. On  the  1st  of  October,  then,  in  the  year  1861,  France 
engages  to  reduce  the  duties  and  take  away  the  prohibitions  on 
all  articles  of  British  production  montioned  in  a  certain  list,  in 
such  a  manner  that  no  duly  upon  any  one  of  these  articles  shall 
exceed  thirty  per  cent,  ad  valorem.  I  do  not  speak  of  articles  of 
food,  which  do  not  materially  enter  into  the  treaty ;  but  the  list  to 
which  I  refer,  sir,  includes  all  the  staples  of  British  manufacture, 
whether  of  yarns,  flax,  hemp,  hair,  wool,  silk,  or  cotton;  all 
manufactures  of  skins,  leather,  bark,  wood  ;  iron  and  all  other 
metals;  glass,  stoneware,  earthenware,  or  porcelain.  I  will  not 
go  through  the  whole  list;  it  is  indeed  needless,  for  I  am  not 
aware  of  any  great  or  material  article  that  is  omitted.  France 
also  engages  to  commute  those  ad  valorem  duties  into  rated  duties 
by  a  separate  convention,  to  be  framed  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
effect  to  the  terms  which  I  have  described.  But  if  there  should 
be  a  disagreement  as  to  the  terms  on  which  they  should  be  rated 
by  the  convention,  then  the  maximum  chargeable  on  every  class  at 
thirty  per  cent,  ad  valorem  will  be  levied  at  the  proper  period,  not 
in  the  form  of  a  rated  duty,  but  upon  the  value;  and  the  value 
will  be  determined  by  the  process  now  in  use  in  the  English  cus- 
toms. 

"I  come  next,  sir,  to  the  English  covenants.  England  engages, 
with  a  limited  power  of  exception,  which  we  propose  to  exercise 
only  with  regard  to  two  or  three  articles,  to  abolish  immcdiute- 
ly  and  totally  all  duties  upon  all  manufactured  goods.  Thei-e 
will  be  a  sweep,  summary,  entire  and  absolute,  of  what  are 
known  as  manufactured  goods  from  the  face  of  the  British  tariff. 
Further,  England  engages  to  reduce  the  duty  on  brandy  from  15s 
the  gallon  to  the  level  of  the  colonial  duty  ;  namely,  8s  2dthe  gal- 
lon. She  engages  to  reduce  immediately  the  duty  on  foreign 
wine.  In  the  treaty  it  is  of  course  French  wine  which  is  speci- 
fied ;  but  it  was  perfectly  understood  between  France  and  our- 
selves, that  we  proceed  with  regard  to  the  commodities  of  all 
countries  alike.  England  engages,  then,  to  reduce  the  duty  on 
wine  from  a  rate  nearly  reaching  5s  10d  per  gallon,  to  3s  per  gal- 
lon. She  engages,  beside  a  present  reduction,  further  to  reduce 
that  duty  from  the  1st  of  April,  1861,  to  a  scale  which  has  refer- 
ence to  the  strength  of  the  wine  measured  by  the  quantity  of 
spirit  it  contains." 


The  Pcdmerston  Ministry.  197 

The  provisions  of  the  treaty  would  of  course  cause  a  reduction 
in  the  revenue ;  but  this  was  considerably  less,  Mr.  Gladstone 
calculated,  than  the  relief  which  the  measure  would  give.  The 
deficit  thus  occasioned  would  be  made  up,  he  argued,  by  the  fall- 
ing in  of  long  annuities ;  and  the  measure  which  was  designed 
to  be  a  permanent  benefit  would  thus  be  attended  by  not  even  a 
temporary  inconvenience. 

But  the  house  was  by  no  means  ready  to  assent  to  this  plan. 
Not  only  did  the  Conservatives  oppose  it,  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, but  some  of  the  Liberals  were  equally  bitter  in  their  de- 
nunciations of  such  a  compromise  measure.  It  was  a  curious  fea- 
ture of  the  debate,  that  some  of  the  most  eminent  Free  Traders 
in  the  House,  including  Gladstone,  Bright  and  Cobden,  were  ac- 
cused of  renouncing  their  principles  in  favor  of  a  measure  of 
Protection;  and  by  urging  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  which 
could  only  be  carried  out  on  the  other  side  by  the  will  of  the 
Emperor,  opposed  to  the  sentiments  of  his  people,  they  were  ob- 
liged to  defend  themselves  from  a  charge  of  rejecting  the  prin- 
ciples of  representative  government.  Such  a  charge,  applied  to 
Gladstone,  is  only  less  ridiculous  than  a  similar  one  having 
Bright  for  its  object. 

The  Government  did  not  attempt  to  deny  that  this  was  a  com- 
promise measure  ;  but  it  was  the  best  that  could  be  done  ;  and  as 
such  it  was  presented  to  the  House.  When  the  budget  had  been 
fully  presented,  the  Opposition  armed  itself  for  the  fight.  The 
battle  was  opened  by  a  shot  from  Mr.  Disraeli,  who  offered  an 
amendment  affirming  that  the  House  was  not  ready  to  go  into 
committee  upon  the  Customs  act  until  it  should  have  considered 
and  assented  to  the  provisions  of  the  treaty.  The  right  honor- 
orablo  gentleman  attacked  the  treaty,  attacked  the  Government, 
attacked  Mr.  Cobden,  with  all  the  warmth  which  was  character- 
istic of  his  speeches  on  such  occasions.  He  cited  the  example  of 
Pitt  in  1786;  and  doubtless  considered  his  shot  a  telling  one.  Bi:t 
it  had  missed  its  mark  ;  and  the  return  fire  was  one  which  rat- 
tled long  about  his  ears  and  those  of  his  confederates. 

Of  the  speech  in  which  Mr.  Gladstone  answered  this  attack  of 
the  ex-chancellor,  a  contemporary  newspaper  said  :  "  The  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer  has  won  his  Magenta  gallantly,  and 
with  extraordinary  damage  to  the  enemy.  The  battle  has  been  re- 
newed, and  is  raging  while  we  write,  but  the  Opposition  army  is 
dispirited  and  charges  languidly,  and  all  seems  tending  toward 


198 


Ttu.  Palmerston  Ministry. 


a  ministerial  Solferino.  Mr.  Gladstone  distinguished  himself  in 
the  first  engagement  by  a  feat  of  arms  of  the  most  brilliant  cnar- 
acter,  and  none  of  his  own  Homeric  heroes  could  have  more  ter- 
ribly poured  in  thunder  on  the  foe.  Dropping  martial  meta- 
phor, it  may  be  said  that  the  best  debater  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons delivered,  in  answer  to  Mr.  Disraeli — no  unworthy  antag- 
onist— a  speech  in  which  the  lucidity  of  the  argument  was  worthy 
of  the  powerful  declamation  of  the  orator.  From  the  outset  he 


Hon.  John  Bngkt. 

showed  his  masterly  grasp  of  the  subject  and  an  ability  quite  as 
conspicuous  as  if  he  had  made  this  one  question  the  great  study  of 
his  life.  With  perfect  ease  and  self-possession  he  rose  to  the  occa- 
sion, pointed  out  clearly  the  salient  features  of  Parliamentary 
action,  and  indicated  the  far  reaching  effects  of  the  principles  under 
consideration.  He  showed  his  familiarity  with  minute  details, 
gaining  at  once  the  attentive  ear  of  his  auditors.  In  all  these 
respects  he  showed  his  mental  superiority.  When  Mr.  Glad- 
stone addresses  b^nself  in  his  best  manner  to  his  work,  as  he  did 


The  Palmerston  Ministry.  199 

upon  the  occasion  in  question,  the  House  of  Commons  is  justly 
proud  of  its  illustrious  member.  Sometimes,  like  Burke, 

"He  goes  on  refining, 
And  thinks  of  convincing,  while  they  think  of  dining," 

(or  rather  of  dividing,  for  he  seldom  throws  himself  away  upon 
the  Impranst);  but  there  was  no  such  waste  of  thought  upon  this 
occasion,  when  he  closed  with  his  adversary  like  a  man  who 
meant  mischief — and  he  did  it.  Mr.  Disraeli  knows  best  wheth- 
er it  was  wise  to  get  his  forces  so  exceedingly  well  beaten  at  the 
beginning  of  the  financial  campaign  ;  but  that  is  his  affair  and 
Prince  Kupert's." 

The  House  divided  upon  the  amendment  which  was  thus  ably 
argued  against,  and  the  Government  found  itself  in  a  majority 
of  sixty-three.  An  amendment  to  the  budget  brought  forward 
by  a  minor  member  of  the  Opposition  was  less  fortunate  than 
Mr.  Disraeli's  had  proved,  for  this  condemnation  of  the  propo- 
sition to  re-impose  the  income  tax,  though  only  for  a  brief  per- 
iod, was  defeated  by  more  than  one  hundred. 

There  was  another  important  feature  of  the  budget;  the  pro- 
posed abolition  of  the  tax  on  paper.  When  we  consider  the  dif- 
ficulties with  which  newspapers,  those  principal  consumers  of  pa- 
per, have  had  to  contend,  we  should  be  astonished,  not  at  the 
faults  that  they  show,  but  that  they  exist.  It  is  true  that  the 
great  newspaper  is  a  power  in  the  community,  no  less  in  conser- 
vative England  than  in  the  United  States,  which  sometimes  ap- 
pears to  be  as  fond  of  novelties  as  ever  were  the  Athenians ;  but 
the  English  newspapers  of  the  beginning  of  this  century  pro- 
ceeded upon  a  mistaken  course;  they  encouraged  the  tax  which 
tended  to  raise  the  price  of  their  publications,  in  the  belief  that 
their  profits  would  be  diminished  if  they  lost  the  practical  mo- 
nopoly ;  the  ostensible  reason  for  their  opposition  being  that 
eheap  journalism  would  necessarily  be  nasty.  Originally  im- 
posed with  the  idea  of  checking  the  establishment  of  seditious 
newspapers,  the  duty  in  1836  was  a  penny  upon  each  copy.  Add- 
ed to  this,  there  was  a  sixpence  tax  on  each  advertisement;  be- 
sides this  there  was  a  considerable  tax  upon  the  white  paper, 
represented  by  a  duty  imposed  for  the  benefit  of  the  manufac- 
turer. The  tax  on  advertisements  was  abolished  ;  in  1855  the 
penny  duty  upon  each  copy  was  no  longer  exacted  ;  it  remained 
for  Mr.  Gladstone  to  take  the  final  step  in  promoting  the  inter- 
ests of  the  million  readers,  by  recommending  the  abolition  of 


200  The  Palmerston  Ministry. 

this  protective  duty.  Of  course  there  was  opposition  from  the 
manufacturers  and  their  representatives  in  Parliament  j  for  the 
British  Parliament  differs  from  the  American  Congress  in  this, 
that  most  of  the  great  interests  of  the  country  have  their  ac- 
knowledged representatives.  There  are  others,  as  there  must  bo 
in  every  representative  assembly,  who  care  but  little  about  such 
things,  but  are  ready  enough  to  vote  for  a  certain  measure  to 
oblige  a  friend.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  rallying  up  of  such 
men  to  sustain  the  cause  of  the  paper-making  and  journal-selling 
monopoly.  The  result  was  that  although  the  propositions  of 
the  Government  were  finally  carried,  they  were  carried  by  con- 
stantly  decreasing  majorities.  In  place  of  votes  which  ran  a 
hundred  or  so  ahead  of  the  numbers  on  the  opposite  side,  as  the 
other  portions  of  the  same  plan  had  received,  the  resolutions 
to  abolish  the  excise  on  paper  were  won,  on  the  second  reading, 
by  fifty -three  ;  on  the  third,  by  only  nine. 

The  bill  which  had  met  with  this  obstinate  resistance  in  the 
Commons  was  not  more  fortunate  in  the  Lords.  It  was  fought 
with  persistent  argument;  Lord  Lyndhurst,  who  had  been  per- 
haps the  most  powerful  supporter  of  the  Conservative  party  in 
his  day,  and  the  most  able  and  distinguished  member  of  the  Peel 
Ministry  of  1834,  as  well  as  of  the  later  Cabinets  formed  by  Con- 
servative Premiers,  was  especially  vigorous  in  his  opposition  to 
it.  All  the  force  of  that  brilliant  and  powerful  oratory  which 
had  secured  his  advancement  a  half-century  before,  was  employ- 
ed by  the  old  man,  now  nearly  eighty-nine  years  old,  to  defeat 
this  plan  which  was  so  distasteful  to  the  hereditary  legislators. 

While  the  question  was  still  being  debated  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  where  Lord  Monteagle  had  given  notice  of  a  hostile  mo- 
tion, and  Lord  Derby  had  announced  his  intention  of  supporting 
it,  although  he  admitted  that  he  thought,  if  the  income  could 
stand  it,  the  tax  ought  to  be  abolished,  the  members  of  the  House 
of  Commons  were  protesting  indignantly  against  this  usurpation 
of  their  privileges.  Like  our  own  House  of  Representatives,  the 
Commons  alone  can  originate  bills  relating  to  revenue  j  and  this 
effort  of  the  Lords  to  prevent  the  abolition  of  a  tax  against 
which  the  Commons  had  decided,  was  looked  upon  as  equivalent 
to  imposing  a  new  tax.  Perhaps  the  Lords  would  not  have  ven- 
tured upon  this  course,  had  the  majoritiesintheHouseof  Commons 
been  greater ;  certainly  they  only  hold  what  power  they  have  on 
condition  of  never  using  it,  and  their  attitude  of  independence 


The  Palmerston  Ministry. 


201 


upon  this  occasion  was  looked  upon  as  subversive  of  all  repres- 
entative government.  Public  meetings  were  held,  to  protest 
against  their  usurpation  of  power,  which  Mr.  Gladstone  de- 
nounced as  a  u  gigantic  innovation."  At  these  meetings,  John 
Bright  and  his  immediate  adherents  were  of  course  the  leading 
spirits,  but  there  were  others  who  did  not  always  act  with  them, 


Lord  Lyndhurst. 

who  were  now  only  too  willing  to  be  at  their  side.  It  was  said 
at  the  time  that  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  showed  himself 
the  worst  Radical  of  them  all;  quite  " out-Heroded  Herod"  in 
his  assertions  of  the  rights  of  the  people. 

The  Lords  kept  on  in  the  course  which  they  had  marked  out 
for  themseves,  quite  regardless  of  the  popular  agitation.  The 
debate  finally  ended;  not  without  some  strange  and  apparently 


202  The  Palmerston  Ministry. 

irreconcilable  assertions  from  Lord  Derby,  the  acknowledged 
head  of  the  Conservative  party;  he  would  support  the  abolition 
of  the  tax,  if  he  thought  that  the  revenue  could  stand  it,  he  said 
again;  forgetting  that  the  recognized  authority,  the  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer,  who  was  in  possession  of  data  which  others 
could  not  readily  obtain,  and  who  was  besides  his  official  advan- 
tages gifted  as  few  financiers  have  been,  had  announced  it  as  his 
deliberate  opinion  that  the  revenue  could  stand  it;  he  farther 
acknowledged,  to  a  deputation  which  waited  upon  him,  com- 
posed of  many  eminent  men  who  represented  literature  and  jour- 
nalism, that  the  House  of  Lords  had  no  right  to  modify  a  tax  in 
the  slightest  degree.  This  last  acknowledgment,  however,  was 
not  to  be  obtained  from  Lyndhurst,  who  had  been  Lord  Chan- 
cellor during  three  administrations,  and  the  clearness  of  whose 
judgments  had  never  been  excelled  ;  the  "  old  man  eloquent" 
continued  to  maintain  the  privileges  of  that  order  to  which  his 
legal  acumen  had  caused  his  admission. 

Others  there  were  of  less  note  to  speak  on  the  same  side  ;  and 
we  do  not  hear  of  any  strong  speech  in  support  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  the  Upper  House.  This  branch  of  the  national  legisla- 
ture is  always  largely  Conservative,  if  anything  like  its  full 
strength  be  brought  out;  and  upon  this  division  there  were  no 
fewer  than  two  hundred  and  ninety-seven  votes  cast,  or  more 
than  three-fourths  of  the  whole  number  of  peers,  including  those 
who,  not  being  of  age,  were  not  entitled  to  a  voice  in  the  pro- 
ceedings. Of  these  votes,  one  hundred  and  ninety-three  were 
against  the  Government,  which  was  thus  left  in  a  minority  of 
eighty-nine  in  the  Upper  House. 

The  story  goes,  that  Lord  Palmerston  was  asked  what  he  in- 
tended to  do  about  it ;  with  the  almost  American  habit  of  joking 
which  characterized  so  many  of  his  utterances,  he  replied  :  "  1 
mean  to  tell  them  that  it  was  a  very  good  joke  for  once,  but  they 
must  not  give  it  to  us  again."  "Whether  the  Premier  actually  gave 
this  reply  or  not,  is  a  question  which  is  not  answered  by  any 
competent  authority ;  but  it  was  quite  in  his  line  to  have  spoken 
so  to  any  one  who  made  such  an  inquiry;  and  this  very  policy 
was  the  one  which  ho  actually  pursued.  Immediately  upon  the 
reassembling  of  Parliament,  after  the  recess,  Lord  Palmerston 
brought  forward  a  series  of  resolutions  affirming  that  the  Com- 
mons alone  possessed  the  power  of  re-imposing  taxes,  and  say- 
ing, in  effect,  that  the  Lords  had  better  not  try  it  again. 


The  Palmerston  Ministry.  203 

Mr.  Gladstone  had  done  it  all,  said  the  Conservatives,  who 
were  not  far  wrong.  The  whole  question  is  of  little  importance 
at  this  day,  save  as  it  bears  directly  upon  our  subject ;  the  Lords 
had  had  their  lesson,  and  neither  in  the  next  session,  when  the 
same  measure  was  again  proposed,  nor  since  that  time,  under 
similar  circumstances,  have  they  ventured  to  resist  the  abolition 
of  a  tax  which  the  House  of  Commons  has  decided  shall  be  im- 
posed no  longer.  The  main  interest  is  that  attaching  to  Mr. 
Gladstone  in  this  question  j  not  as  showing  what  eminence  he  had 
attained,  or  what  influence  he  possessed,  for  that  is  a  thing  which 
the  veriest  tyro  in  English  history  can  tell  us,  but  as  evidencing 
the  progress  which  he  had  made  in  liberalism  of  opinion  and 
feeling.  He  had  even  outrun  some  of  his  later  Whig  colleagues. 
The  position  which  he  took  in  this  controversy  was  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  that  assumed  by  Lord  Palmerston.  He  condemned 
without  reserve  or  mitigation  the  conduct  of  the  Lords,  and 
the  grounds  on  which  he  based  this  decision  made  it  all  the  more 
welcome  to  the  Radicals.  He  did  not  indeed  support  the  course 
of  extreme  self-assertion  which  some  Radical  members  recom- 
mended to  the  House  of  Commons;  but  he  made  it  clear  that  he 
disclaimed  such  measures  only  because  he  felt  that  the  House  of 
Lords  would  soon  come  to  its  senses  again,  and  would  refrain 
from  similar  acts  of  unconstitutional  interference  in  the  future. 
Hitherto  he  had  been  Liberal  in  feeling  and  opinion,  but  this 
was  hardly  patent  to  himself,  so  gradually  had  the  change  been 
wrought,  and  so  faint  were  the  lines  between  the  moderate  Lib- 
erals and  the  moderate  Conservatives ;  much  less  was  it  apparent 
to  others.  The  first  decisive  intimation  of  the  course  which  he  was 
henceforward  to  tread  was  his  declaration  that  the  constitution- 
al privileges  of  the  representative  assembly  were  not  safe  in  the 
hands  of  the  Conservative  Opposition.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  dis- 
tinctly regarded  during  that  debate  as  the  advocate  of  a  policy 
far  more  energetic  than  that  supported  by  Lord  Palmerston. 
The  promoters  of  the  meetings  which  had  been  held  to  protest 
against  the  interference  of  the  Lords  found  full  warrant  for  the 
course  they  had  taken  in  Mr.  Gladstone's  arguments.  Lord 
Palmerston,  on  the  other  hand,  certainly  suffered  somewhat  in 
the  eyes  of  these  stern  and  uncompromising  upholders  of  the 
rights  of  the  Commons.  It  was  urged  that  he  who  was  ready 
enough  to  sanction  Radical  movements?  on  the  continent  was  far 
less  tolerant  of  them  at  home.  But  whatever  the  reasons  upon 


204  The  Palmerston  Ministry. 

which  the  two  men  based  their  disapproval,  theirs,  added  to  that 
which  was  heard  on  every  side,  was  quite  sufficient  to  frighten 
the  Lords,  who  did  not  try  their  little  joke  again,  even  when  the 
same  measure  was  again  sent  up  by  the  Commons. 

There  remains  one  other  important  measure  introduced  dur- 
ing the  session  of  1860,  to  be  noted  in  this  connection.  The 
Derby  Ministry  had  gone  out  of  office  because  of  their  failure  to 
carry  a  Reform  Bill.  Lord  John  Russell,  whose  efforts  in  this 
direction  had  been  made  the  subject  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  kindly 
ridicule  in  the  previous  session,  was  naturally  the  one  most  inter- 
ested in  the  measure,  and  he  was  the  Minister  to  whom  the  work 
was  intrusted.  The  bill  was  brought  in  March  1st,  and  read  for  the 
second  time  on  the  19th  of  the  same  month.  The  debate  lasted, 
at  intervals,  until  the  llth  of  June.  A  measure  which  thus  hangs 
on  cannot  be  said  to  be  a  popular  one  with  the  House  ;  nor  was 
this.  The  bill  as  it  was  proposed  was  rather  more  offensive  to  the 
conservative  Liberals  than  to  the  Tories  themselves  j  and  of 
this  division  of  the  party  in  power  the  Premier  was  the  head. 
Lord  John  Russell  was  the  chief  of  the  more  popular  section, 
and  his  Reform  Bill,  which  was  a  moderate  and  simple  scheme 
enough,  was  called  The  People's  Bill.  Palmerston  was  all  but 
openly  opposed  to  this  darling  measure  of  his  colleague,  how- 
ever ;  and  although  he  was  usually  a  regular  attendant  upon  the 
sessions  of  the  House,  he  managed  to  be  absent  at  nearly  all  the 
sessions  that  the  measure  came  up  for  discussion  ;  when  he  did 
chance  to  be  present,  he  preserved  a  silence,  which  on  the  part 
of  the  Prime  Minister  when  a  Government  bill  was  being  dis- 
cussed, was  extremely  significant. 

The  bill  proposed  that  the  county  franchise  should  be  lowered 
to  ten  pounds,  the  borough  to  six;  and  made  a  considerable 
change  in  the  apportionment  of  members;  it  also  provided  that 
where  a  constituency  returned  three  members,  the  electors  should 
vote  for  but  two,  thus  giving  a  representative  to  the  minority. 
This  was  in  strict  accordance  with  the  ideas  of  the  Manchester 
school,  and  partly  because  it  was  so  pleasing  to  Messrs.  Bright, 
Cobden,  et  a?.,  the  more  Conservative  members  of  the  Cabinet 
found  it  extremely  distasteful.  Had  the  Premier  spoken  once  in 
its  favor,  it  would  probably  have  been  carried;  but  the  Conser- 
vatives had  an  easy  task  before  them.  The  Opposition  dared  not 
oppose  the  measure  openly  :  Disraeli  saw  that  clearly  ;  he  might 
have  occasion  to  introduce  a  Reform  Bill  some  day  himself-  and 


The  Palmerston  Ministry. 


205 


though  he  did  not  shrink  from  inconsistency,  and  had  frequently 
disavowed  principles  of  which  he  had  formerly  been  the  ardent 


Mr.  Gladstone  as  Lord  Rector  of  t/ie  University  of  Edinburgh. 

supporter,  there  was  no  use  of  providing  his  enemies  with  argu- 
ments against  him.  He  contented  himself  with  a  quiet,  languid 
style  of  speech,  which  seemed  to  say,  "You  may  think  that  this  is 


206  The  Palmerston  Ministry. 

a  Reform  Bill,  but  you  just  ought  to  see  what  I  could  do,  if  I  had 
the  opportunity  and  was  so  inclined."  The  bill  needed  no  resis- 
tance from  its  enemies ;  the  passivity  of  its  friends  was  quite 
enough  to  kill  it. 

There  were  not  wanting  those  who  saw  what  the  Premier's  si- 
lence meant,  and  endeavored  to  reason  with  him. 

"  Why  should  you  oppose  this  measure  ?"  asked  a  friend  of 
him  ;  "  The  representatives  who  would  bo  sent  to  a  reformed  Par- 
liament would  be  men  of  the  same  character  and  standing  with 
those  who  sit  in  the  present  Parliament." 

"  Yes,"  ho  answered,  grimly,  "  I  suppose  they  would ;  but 
they  would  play  to  the  galleries  instead  of  the  boxes." 

Mr.  Gladstone  was  a  warm  supporter  of  the  bill,  and  spoke  in 
vindication  of  the  conduct  and  consistency  of  the  introducer.  He 
ridiculed  the  fears  of  those  who  thought  that  the  proposed  fran- 
chise would  deteriorate  the  constituencies  of  the  country;  and 
urged  that  the  new  electors  would  be  fully  as  intelligent  and 
capable  of  judging  men  and  measures,  as  many  who  already 
held  it.  The  apprehensions  that  the  six  pound  electors  would 
become  so  numerous  as  to  swamp  the  representation  of  property 
and  station  in  the  House  were  utterly  unfounded  and  delusive. 

The  bill  was  read  a  second  time  withouta  division,  but  finding 
it  impossible  to  carry  it  through,  Lord  John  Russell  withdrew 
it;  preferring  delay  to  defeat. 

As  we  began  this  chapter  with  an  account  of  a  mission  on 
which  Mr.  Gladstone  was  dispatched  because  he  was  a  profound 
Greek  scholar,  we  close  with  the  mention  of  an  honor  which  was 
shown  him  because  of  the  same  eminence  in  learning.  April  16th, 
1860,  he  was  installed  as  Lord  Rector  of  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh, having  previously  to  the  installation  received  the  degree 
of  LL.D. 

In  an  address,  the  great  value  of  which  was  its  practical  view 
of  the  work  performed  by  the  universities,  and  the  responsibil- 
ities of  those  who  were  students  there,  Mr.  Gladstone  told  the 
assembled  students  how  broad  was  the  field  of  knowledge  which 
they  were  to  till;  and  how  broad  the  field  of  time  over  which 
the  human  mind  has  sowed  and  reaped  its  harvest. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

EMANCIPATION  FROM  TORYISM. 

Wet  Weather  and  Poor  Harvests— Dull  Session  in  Parliament — Post-Office  Sa* 
ings  Banks— Garibaldi  ana  His  Bed  Shirt — Mr.  Gladstone  Defends  the 
Liberator  of  Italy — Improvement  in  the  Nation's  Finances — Protest  of  the 
Opposition— Bitter  Attack  on  Gladstone— Repeal  of  the  Paper  Duty — The 
Ionian  Islands  again— English  Opinion  and  the  American  Civil  War— 
Reduction  of  the  Income  Tax — Surplus  in  the  Revenues  for  1864 — The 
Working  Classes — Osborne's  Amusing  Speech — The  Question  of  Church 
and  State— Mr.  Gladstone  Declares  Himself  Unmuzzled. 

'O  talk  about  the  weather  of  the  present  day  is  bad  enough; 
but  what  shall  we  say  when  the  records  of  nearly  thirty 
years  ago  are  brought  forward  to  explain  the  course  of 
politics  ?  Yet  so  it  must  be  now;  for  the  weather  in  the 
summer  of  1860  was  the  means  of  vindicating  the  wisdom  of 
those  statesmen  who  had  so  persistently  maintained  the  doctrine 
of  Free  Trade.  During  the  months  of  June,  July  and  August, 
there  was  a  prevalence  of  severe,  cold,  heavy  rains,  violent  gales, 
and  destructive  floods  ;  and  the  long  continuance  of  this  unfavor- 
able weather  gave  rise  to  the  fear  that  there  would  be  an  entire 
failure  of  the  crops.  Toward  the  end  of  August,  indeed,  there 
was  some  slight  amelioration  ;  so  that  the  crop  was  really  bet- 
ter than  was  anticipated,  though  it  was  by  no  means  up  to  the 
average.  The  removal  of  the  restrictions  which  had  so  long  im- 
peded the  free  interchange  of  commodities  with  other  countries 
now  acted  in  a  most  salutary  manner,  when  the  enlarged  neces- 
sities of  the  country  had  driven  her  to  the  resources  of  a  foreign 
supply.  Under  the  operation  of  protective  laws,  the  country 
would  have  suffered  most  severely  ;  but  the  working-classes  es- 
pecially, now  realized  the  beneficial  effects  of  Free  Trade ;  and 
those  statesmen  who  had  advocated  it  so  strongly  became  cor- 
respondingly popular. 

The  speech  from  the  Throne  at  the  beginning  of  the  session  of 
1861  was  a  disappointment  to  many  of  the  supporters  of  the 
Government,  as  well  as  to  some  actually  in  the  Cabinet.  Thero 

.207 


208  Emancipation  from  Toryism. 

was  no  mention  of  the  great  question  of  Parliamentary  Keform  ; 
the  only  promise  of  legislation  which  was  held  out  had  reference 
to  some  of  those  law-reforms  which  had  already  been  under  the 
consideration  of  Parliament.  An  amendment  expressive  of  the 
dissatisfaction  that  was  felt  at  this  notable  omission  was  at  once 
brought  forward,  but  was  opposed  by  Mr.  Disraeli,  who  had  no 
notion  of  the  Liberals  achieving  distinction  by  their  advocacy  of 
Reform ;  and  by  Lord  John  Russell,  who  contended  that  it 
would  be  better  to  take  no  action  at  all  until  such  changes  as 
would  work  definite  improvement  in  the  existing  system  could 
be  made.  Though  this  view  of  the  matter  was  strenuously  oppos- 
ed by  Mr.  Bright,  who  spoke  strongly  in  regard  to  the  inconsisten- 
cy of  Lord  Russell  in  now  manifesting  such  lukewarmness  to- 
ward a  measure  which  he  had  formerly  supported  with  such  ar- 
dent enthusiasm.  But  the  Ministry  was  divided  in  itself  upon 
this  very  question  ;  in  the  previous  session,  the  bill  had  been  lost 
because  of  the  Premier's  open  hostility;  the  majority  of  the 
members  of  the  House  of  Commons  were  beyond  a  doubt  anx- 
ious to  get  rid  of  the  whole  question ;  and  the  amendment  call- 
ing for  a  consideration  of  Reform  was  vetoed  by  a  majority  of 
eighty-three. 

The  Palmerston  Government  then,  had  replaced  the  Derby 
Government  because  the  Reform  Bill  which  the  latter  had  pro- 
posed was  not  sufficiently  comprehensive  to  meet  the  demands 
of  the  people  j  and  the  Ministry  which  had  come  into  power  un- 
der such  circumstances  had  now  coolly  set  aside  the  whole  thing, 
as  something  which  it  was  not  expedient  to  consider  at  all.  Pal- 
merston's  colleagues  must  of  course  share  the  blame  which  attach- 
ed to  such  conduct  by  continuing  to  hold  office  under  a  Minister 
who  had  been  capable  of  such  gross  inconsistency. 

The  debates  of  this  session  were  characterized  by  unusual 
tamcness  and  dullness.  In  the  House  of  Lords,  the  Earl  of 
Derby  strongly  condemned  the  policy  of  the  Government  re- 
garding France  and  Italy;  a  policy  which  he  described  as  plac- 
ing upon  the  shoulders  of  the  people  "  an  amount  of  taxation 
absolutely  unprecedented  in  time  of  peace,  and  only  made  more 
intolerable  by  the  financial  freaks  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer." To  this  attack  we  have  the  most  eloquent  of  all  ans- 
wers— that  which  the  subsequent  prosperity,  brought  about  by 
those  very  financial  freaks,  gives  for  Mr.  Gladstone. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  measure  which  was  this  session 


Emancipation  from  Toryism.  209 

brought  forward  by  this  high  officer  of  the  revenue  was  that 
which  established  the  Post  Office  Saving  Banks.  This  is  the  sec- 
ond notable  reform,  especially  affecting  the  middle  and  lower 
classes,  which  was  the  result  of  Gladstone's  labors ;  the  reader 
will  recall  the  provisions  of  that  bill  which,  while  he  was  Presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Trade  during  Sir  Eobert  Peel's  administra- 
tion, established  the  Parliamentary  Train  on  the  Eailways  of 
Great  Britain.  The  establishment  of  the  Post  Office  Savings 
Banks  has  undoubtedly  been  of  inestimable  benefit  to  many 
classes  of  the  British  community. 

Following  the  course  of  the  session,  we  find  Mr.  Gladstone 
taking  part  in  the  discussion  on  the  vexed  subject  of  Church 
Eates.  After  an  eloquent  speech,  he  concluded  by  suggesting 
that  an  arrangement  might  be  made  by  which  the  power  of  a 
majority  of  a  parish  to  accept  or  reject  Church  Eates  as  a  right, 
should  be  agreed  to,  at  the  same  time  allowing  a  parish  to  tax 
itself  by  the  will  of  the  majority.  This  proposition  was  assailed 
by  Mr.  Bright,  as  leaving  the  question  exactly  where  it  was  al- 
ready, that  where  you  could  not  get  Church  Eates  you  were  to 
let  them  alone.  The  bill  to  abolish  Church  Eates  was  carried 
by  a  small  majority,  which  included  Lord  Palmerston  and  Lord 
John  Eussell,  with  other  members  of  the  Government;  but  Mr. 
Gladstone  voted  against  the  measure. 

If  the  questions  which  related  to  internal  affairs  were  few  and 
of  but  slight  consequence,  when  viewed  from  this  distance  of 
time  and  space,  those  which  had  to  do  with  foreign  affairs  were 
neither  few  nor  unimportant.  Italy  was  convulsed  with  that 
struggle  which  finally  resulted  in  her  independence  and  union  ; 
the  United  States  were  just  beginning  that  war  which  was  to 
rage  for  four  years,  with  an  incalculable  expenditure  of  blood 
and  treasure.  Austria  was  defending  her  Italian  possessions  and 
allies  ;  France  was  drawn  into  the  struggle,  as  an  ally  of  Victor 
Emmanuel  j  the  utmost  efforts  would  be  necessary  to  prevent 
England's  being  compelled  to  take  part,  either  with  Italy  or 
Austria,  with  the  United  States  or  the  Confederate  States. 

Victor  Emmanuel  comes  to  our  minds  with  the  prestige  of  suc- 
cess for  an  added  jewel  to  his  crown ;  and  dazzled  by  that,  and 
by  the  knowledge  that  his  sovereignty  of  a  united  Italy  has  un- 
doubtedly worked  much  good  to  its  people,  we  can  hardly  under- 
stand how  the  King  of  Naples  could  find  friends  and  defenders 
in  liberty-loving  England.  Ferdinand  II.,  who  was  responsible 

"4 


Queen  Victoria  at  the  Opening  of  Parliament  in  1861. 


210 


Emancipation  from  Toryism.  211 

for  those  abnses  which  Mr.  Gladstone  had  been  the  main  instru- 
ment in  correcting  by  his  fearless  exposure  of  the  condition  of 
the  Neapolitan  prisons,  had  now  been  dead  for  nearly  two  years, 
and  his  son,  Francis  II.,  reigned  in  his  stead.  The  new  king 
was  a  not  unworthy  son  of  such  a  father,  but  his  power  had  been 
first  curtailed,  then  forever  nullified,  by  the  acts  of  G-aribaldi. 
The  hero  of  Italy  had  more  than  twenty-five  years  before  this 
time  been  condemned  to  death  for  participating  in  a  futile 
revolutionary  outbreak  at  Genoa;  his  life  since  the  failure  of 
that  effort  had  been  devoted  to  the  cause  of  freedom.  Pursued 
by  the  Austrians.  his  wife  had  d'ed  in  his  arms,  exhausted  by  the 
dangers  and  terrible  exertions  of  their  flight.  An  exile  from  his 
country,  he  had  made  himself  famous  as  the  liberator  of  others. 
When  he  returned  to  Italy,  it  was  as  the  acknowledged  repre- 
sentative of  the  people's  desire  for  freedom  and  union.  Success 
had  followed  him;  and  his  army  had  grown  steadily.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1860,  he  entered  Naples;  not  at  the  head  of  his  troops, 
as  a  conqueror,  but  with  one  or  two  friends;  that  it  might  be 
seen  how  his  coming  was  awaited  by  the  people.  At  last  the 
message  was  flashed  along  the  wires,  at  the  close  of  that  last  bat- 
tle which  Garibaldi  fought  as  commander  in  this  struggle — 
"Complete  victory  along  the  whole  line."  Victor  Emmanuel 
crossed  the  Papal  frontier  and  resumed  command  of  the  army; 
Garibaldi  relinquished  into  the  hands  of  the  constitutional  sover- 
eign, whose  authority  he  had  agreed  to  recognize,  in  place  of 
that  of  a  republic,  the  absolute  sway  which  he  had  acquired 
over  the  Neapolitan  provinces. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1861, 
when  the  question  was  brought  up  for  discussion  in  the  British 
Parliament.  At  that  time,  as  we  have  already  said,  there  were 
some  supporters  in  England  of  Ferdinand  II.,  and  Victor  Em- 
manuel was  strongly  condemned  by  many  for  the  recognition 
of  Garibaldi,  for  supporting  him  and  approving  the  invasion  of 
Naples.  The  conservative  element  was  startled  at  the  idea  of  a 
sailor's  son  presuming  to  interfere  in  the  government  of  king- 
doms and  the  questions  of  dynasties  and  thrones,  which  belonged 
properly  to  high-born  statesmen;  and  was  scarcely  less  shocked 
at  the  idea  of  a  scion  of  royalty  accepting  the  assistance  of  such  a 
man.  Mr.  Eoebuck  predicted  that  if  Garibaldi  attempted  to  do 
in  Venetia  what  he  had  already  done  in  Naples  and  Sicily,  he 
would  be  hanged  within  a  week. 


212 


Emancipation  from  Toryism. 


A  motion  for  gorag  into  Committee  of  Supply  having  been 
made  in  the  House  of  Commons,  Mr.  Pope  Hennessy  rose  to  call 
attention  t<>  the  "active  interference  of  the  Secretary  of  State  in 
promoting  Picdmontese  policy/'  and  condemned  that  policy  as 
causing  the  increase  of  the  national  burdens  in  Piedmont^  the 
decline  oi'  its  trade  and  commerce,  the  waste  of  the  population  in 
predatory  war,  and  the  consequent  decay  of  agriculture.  This  mo- 
rise  to  the  most  exciting  debate  of  the  session.  It  was 

warmly  supported  by 
Sir  George  Bowyer. 
who,  in  addition  to 
the  contrast  between 
Piedmont  and  the  Pa- 
pal States,  which  had 
been  boldly  drawn  by 
Mr.  Hennessy,  urged 
that  the  English  sup- 
port of  Napoleon  III. 
was  paralyzing  all 
other  European  allies. 
The  policy  of  the 
present  Government, 
he  said,  had  destroy- 
ed that  prestige  of 
honor  and  justice 
which  used  to  attend 
the  British  flag,  since 
it  encouraged  none 
but  the  revolutionary 
party  in  Europe,  who 
were  the  unprincipled  tools  of  the  unbounded  ambition  of  the 
French  Emperor. 

The  second  night  of  the  debate,  Mr.  Gladstone  rose  to  speak 
on  the  other  side.  There  were  other  speeches,  of  course,  in  the 
defense  of  the  liberator  of  Italy,  and  of  England's  recognition  of 
his  services  to  the  race  ;  but  his  is,  as  usual,  reckoned  the  most 
eloquent,  the  most  crushing  expose  of  the  errors  which  his  op- 
ponents were  supporting. 

Had  the  debate  been  confined  to  criticisms  of  the  King  of 
Sardinia,  he  said,  or  if  it  concerned  only  the  policy  pursued  by 
the  English  Foreign  Minister,  he  would  have  remained 


Garibaldi. 


Emancipation  from  Toryism.  213 

confident  of  the  wide-spread  approval  which  that  policy  com- 
manded. He  believed  it  to  be  stamped  with  approval  through- 
out the  great  body  of  the  people  of  England,  from  the  greatest 
to  the  least.  But  the  speakers  upon  the  motion  had  called  upon 
the  House  to  lament  the  foreign  policy  of  the  Government, 
which  they  alleged  was  founded  upon  injustice,  and  said  that  the 
cause  which  the  Ministry  favored  in  Italy  was  the  persecution 
of  righteous  governments.  The  revolution  in  Naples  was  called 
a  wicked  conspiracy,  carried  on  by  an  unprincipled  king  and  a 
cunning  minister;  and  the  people  of  Naples  had  been  said  to  be 
governed  by  benignant  laws,  wisely  administered,  and  were  de- 
voted to  their  king.  Mr.  Gladstone,  in  reply  to  this  characteriza- 
tion, sketched  the  history  of  Naples  from  the  accession  of  Fer- 
dinand II. ;  and  the  story  was  an  unanswerable  argument  against 
the  house  which  had  been  so  lately  dethroned.  Francis  had 
been  lauded  for  the  courage  which  he  had  displayed  at  Gaeta.  To 
this  Gladstone  replied :  "It  is  all  very  well  to  claim  considera- 
tion for  him  on  account  of  his  courage;  but  I  confess  I  feel  much 
more  admiration  for  the  courage  of  the  honorable  Member  for  Dun- 
dalk  and  the  honorable  member  for  King's  County  (Bowyer  and 
Hennessy);  for  I  think  I  would  rather  live  in  a  stout  and  well- 
built  casemate,  listening  to  the  whizzing  of  bullets  and  the  burst- 
ing of  shells,  than  come  before  a  free  assembly  to  vindicate — " 
Mr.  Gladstone  was  here  interrupted  by  the  tumultuous  cheering, 
and  was  for  some  time  unable  to  proceed.  When  the  confusion 
had  subsided,  he  continued  :  " — than  to  vindicate  such  a  cause  as 
that  which  those  honorable  gentlemen  have  espoused."  With 
merciless  exactitude  he  went  on  piling  up  accusations  against 
Francis,  and  substantiating  each  by  indisputable  proofs.  Nor 
was  Naples  the  only  state  on  which  he  turned  the  brilliant  light 
of  his  eloquence.  The  Romagna,  Perugia,  Modena,  all  fell  under 
the  lash  j  and  the  Italians  were  exonerated  from  the  charge  of 
rebellion  by  a  recital  of  the  policy  which  had  been  pursued  by 
Austria.  He  closed  with  a  felicitous  reference  to  the  manner  in 
which  the  revolution  had  been  accomplished,  and  the  lasting 
blessing  which  the  consolidation  of  Italy,  and  her  restoration  to 
national  life,  would  be  to  Europe  at  large  as  well  as  to  herself. 

So  eloquent  were  the  supporters  of  the  Government,  and  so 
popular  was  the  cause  of  Garibaldi  and  Yictor  Emmanuel,  that 
the  debate  terminated  without  a  division.  The  subject  again 
came  up  for  discussion  during  the  latter  part  of  the  session,  when 


214  Emancipation  from  Toryism. 

Mr.  Gladstone  took  occasion  to  deny  the  charge  of  promoting 
revolutionary  movements  in  Italy,  which  had  been  brought 
against  the  Ministry;  and  adduced  facts  and  circumstances  in 
justification  of  his  previous  attack  upon  the  Duke  of  Modena,  by 
which  he  showed  how  criminal  justice  was  administered  in  that 
duchy. 

The  budget  of  the  year  was  presented  to  the  House  on  the 
fifteenth  of  April.  The  House  was  densely  crowded  when  Mr. 
Gladstone  rose,  immediately  upon  the  opening  of  the  daily 
session.  He  briefly  sketched  the  previous  year's  budget  and  its 
provisions,  and  the  financial  history  of  the  year.  It  had  been 
signalized  by  the  commercial  treaty  with  France,  by  the  re- 
moval of  great  national  burdens,  by  the  abolition  of  the  last  pro- 
tective duty  from  the  system;  it  had  been  a  year  of  the  largest 
expenditure  that  had  occurred  in  the  time  of  peace,  while  it  was 
characterized  by  an  unparallelled  severity  of  the  seasons.  The 
apparent  deficiency  was  £2,559,000;  but  certain  deductions  re- 
duced this  to  an  actual  deficiency  of  £221,000.  We  need  not  here 
recount  the  various  taxes  which  were  held,  by  their  reduction  or 
abolition,  to  have  brought  about  this  deficit;  we  may  barely  say 
that  Mr.  Gladstone,  in  contrasting  the  revenue  of  this  year  with 
that  of  1853,  when  there  had  been  another  such  change  in  the 
sources  from  which  the  income  of  the  state  was  derived,  while 
he  did  not  attempt  to  deny  that  the  revenue  was  not  so  elastic  in 
the  latter  case  as  in  the  earlier,  contended  that  this  was  due  in 
some  part  to  the  vast  increase  in  the  expenditure,  which  was  full 
twenty  millions  sterling  greater  than  it  had  been  seven  years 
before. 

Mr.  Gladstone  next  proceeded  to  show  that  the  legislation  of 
the  past  year,  especially  that  relating  to  the  treaty  with  France, 
had  not  been  without  a  salutary  effect;  for  though  times  were 
hard,  and  many  of  the  people  without  employment,  that  was 
owing  to  the  unexampled  harvest.  He  commended  the  efforts 
which  the  French  Ministry  had  made  to  fulfill  their  part  of  the 
treaty,  and  again  adverted  to  the  service  which  Mr.  Cobden  had 
performed  in  negotiating  it. 

The  estimated  revenue  for  the  ensuing  year  was  so  considera- 
bly in  excess  of  the  estimated  expenditure  that  the  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer  stated  that  it  was  proposed  to  remit  the  ad- 
ditional penny  of  the  Income  Tax  which  had  been  imposed  the 
year  before.  Under  the  magic  wand  of  the  great  financial  en- 


215 


216  Emancipation  from  Toryism. 

Of  this  speech,  a  writer  of  the  time  said  :  "Among  those  who 
ought  to  be  judges  there  is  an  almost  unanimous  opinion  that, 
take  it  for  all  in  all,  this  was  the  very  best  speech  Mr.  Gladstone 
ever  made.  As  we  now  know,  he  was  conscious  that  ho  had  » 
pleasant  surprise  in  store  for  those  hearers  who  had  come  to  lis- 
ten to  a  woeful  palinode,  and  there  was  a  lurking  sense  of  tri- 
umph over  his  avowed  opponents,  and  still  more  over  his  skin- 
deep  friends,  which  gave  a  lightness  and  buoyancy  to  his  de- 
meanor which  of  course  spread  to  his  audience.  It  even  gave  a 
raciness  to  his  occasional  flights  of  humor.  His  quotations 
were  happy  and  neatly  introduced,  and  that  in  Latin  was  loudly 
cheered  by  the  gentlemen  below  the  gangway,  probably  because, 
they  not  understanding  it,  it  had  a  great  effect  upon  them.  But 
the  chief  merit  of  the  speech,  in  reference  to  its  object,  was  the 
remarkable  dexterity  with  which  it  appealed  to  the  tastes,  feel- 
ings, and  opinions  of  the  House.  At  one  sentence,  delivered 
with  his  face  half  turned  to  the  benches  behind,  Mr.  Bright  would 
break  out  into  an  involuntary  cheer,  at  once  both  natural  and 
hearty;  while  the  very  next  moment  the  orator  would  lean,  with 
a  fascinating  smile  on  his  countenance,  over  the  table  to  the 
gentlemen  opposite,  and  minister  to  their  weaknesses  or  preju- 
dices with  equal  power  and  success.  *  *  *  *  *  In  every 
possible  respect  it  was  a  masterpiece  of  oratory  ;  and  as  it  in  the 
result  actually  led  to  something  tangible — that  is  to  say,  to  a 
surplus  and  a  reduction  of  taxation — it  was  in  every  sense  tri- 
umphant." 

But  this  triumphant  eloquence  was  not  received  by  the  House 
without  a  protest  from  the  Opposition.  Although  the  budget 
was  generally  regarded  in  a  very  favorable  light,  Mr.  Bentinck, 
Mr.  Baring,  Lord  Robert  Montagu,  Sir  Stafford  Northcote,  and 
others  or?  the  Conservative  benches,  warmly  opposed  it.  Ben- 
tinck and  Montagu,  indeed,  undertook  several  times  during  the 
session  the  task  of  demolishing  the  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer. It  would  appear  that  they  did  not  succeed. 

Mr.  Gladstone  defended  his  scheme  in  detail  against  these  at- 
tacks, and  demanded  that  a  division  should  take  the  place  of 
long  debates;  but  the  opposition  to  the  budget  did  not  assume 
that  definite  form. 

The  Government  had  determined  to  present  the  budget  as  a 
whole  to  the  House;  not,  as  was  usual,  in  the  form  of  separate 
propositions,  which  might  be  separately  discussed,  and  meet  with 


Emancipation  from  Toryism.  217 

different  fates  in  case  of  divisions.  This  was  bitterly  opposed 
by  the  Conservatives,  who  knew  that  their  only  chance  lay  with 
some  of  the  less  popular  features,  not  with  the  measure  as  a 
whole.  The  Opposition  charged  that  this  was  done  with  the  in- 
tent of  compelling  the  Lords  to  assent  to  the  abolition  of -the 
paper  duty ;  and  at  the  second  reading,  May  13th,  the  whole  bat- 
tle was  fought  over  again.  Sir  James  Graham,  was  the  most 
powerful  defender  of  the  Government  in  the  early  part  of  this 
section  of  the  debate.  His  speech  was  followed  by  what  was 
perhaps  the  most  violent  personal  attack  which,  up  to  that  time, 
had  ever  been  made  upon  Mr.  Gladstone;  the  speaker  was  Lord 
Robert  Cecil  (afterward  Marquis  of  Salisbury).  The  budget 
was  a  personal  one,  he  said;  they  had  no  guarantee  for  it  but 
the  promises  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  and  experience 
had  taught  them  that  he  was  not  a  financier  who  was  always  to 
be  relied  upon.  At  this  stage  of  his  speech,  he  was  interrupted 
by  loud  cries  of  "Oh !  Oh!",  and  it  was  some  time  before  he 
could  again  make  himself  heard.  He  had  already  described  the 
policy  of  the  Government  as  worthy  only  of  a  country  attorney; 
but  now  he  thought  that  he  had  done  injustice  to  the  attorneys. 
Again  interrupted  by  the  cries  of  his  colleagues,  he  went  on, 
when  order  had  been  restored,  to  characterize  the  course  which 
the  Ministry  had  pursued  as  one  distinguished  by  all  the  in- 
genuity of  legal  chicane — a  dodge.  Americanized  finance  was  to 
be  a  consequence  of  Americanized  institutions;  with  much  more 
to  the  same  eifect. 

Mr.  Gladstone  made  no  answer  to  this  at  the  time;  nor,  in- 
deed, did  he  ever  make  any  direct  and  extended  reply  to  this 
bitter  personal  attack.  Speaking  on  the  same  subject  a  few  days 
later,  he  referred  to  the  fact  that  personal  matters  had  been  intro- 
duced in  the  course  of  the  debate,  which  he  thought  it  best  to 
pass  by  without  comment;  but  legitimate  criticisms  upon  his  plan 
he  would  endeavor  to  meet.  Whatever  may  be  the  censure  passed 
upon  the  "Grand  Old  Man,"  he  was  never  accused  of  vituper- 
ation, or  unkindly  treatment  of  those  who  had  exposed  them- 
selves to  the  terrors  of  that  eloquence  which  might  have  been  so 
sharp  a  weapon  against  them.  His  opposition  was  always  to 
measures,  not  to  men;  and  his  enemies  received  as  courteous 
treatment  as  his  friends. 

Whatever  change  the  proposed  plan  might  make  in  the  Con- 
stitution, he  said,  was  one  fully  justified  by  the  necessity  of  the 


218  Emancipation  from  Toryism. 

case,  and  by  precedent.  Mr.  Horsman  had  declared  that  it  gave  a 
mortal  stab  to  the  Constitution.  Mr.  Gladstone  thought  that  the 
Constitution  would  be  all  the  better  for  the  operation.  In  re- 
gard to  the  Constitution  as  Mr.  Horsman  understood  and  ex- 
plained it,  with  that  division  of  responsibility  which  most  ef- 
fectually did  away  with  all  responsibility,  Mr.  Gladstone  thought 
that  the  sooner  it  received  a  mortal  stab  the  better. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  colleague  in  the  representation  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Oxford,  and  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Prece- 
dents, both  prominent  Conservatives,  approved  of  the  course 
which  he  recommended  as  strictly  constitutional ;  and  in  spite 
of  Mr.  Disraeli's  active  opposition,  the  bill  was  read  the  second 
time. 

The  discussion  upon  the  repeal  of  the  paper  duty  on  this  sec- 
ond reading  was  the  most  critical  stage  at  which  the  bill  had  yet 
arrived;  and  in  some  quarters  the  fall  of  the  Government  was 
confidently  predicted.  Among  those  who  spoke  upon  this  oc- 
casion were  Lord  Palmerston,  Mr.  Gladstone,  Lord  John  Russell, 
Mr.  Cobden,  Mr.  Disraeli,  and  Mr.  Baring.  The  question  finally 
came  to  a  division,  the  result  of  which  was  waited  for  with  great 
anxiety.  It  showed  a  majority  for  the  Government  of  fifteen, 
five  hundred  and  seventy-seven  votes  being  cast.  The  rejection 
of  the  bill  was  moved  in  the  House  of  Lords,  but  the  motion 
was,  upon  the  advice  of  the  Earl  of  Derby,  who  seemed  to  be 
something  of  Yiscount  Palmerston's  opinion  about  the  action  of 
the  Lords  on  this  subject,  not  pressed  ;  and  the  bill  became  law. 

The  subject  of  the  Ionian  Islands  again  came  up  in  this  ses- 
sion, and  Mr.  Gladstone  replied  to  the  member  who  had  demand- 
ed information  about  them.  The  information  was  withheld  by 
the  Government,  who  did  not  think  it  prudent  to  make  all  the 
circumstances  public  at  that  time  and  the  conciliatory  speech  of 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  caused  the  motion  to  be  with- 
drawn. 

The  budget  for  1862  was  of  less  interest  than  those  which  Mr. 
Gladstone  had  previously  presented  for  the  consideration  of  the 
House.  There  were  certain  reasons  for  a  decreased  income.  One 
of  these  was  the  depression  arising  from  lack  of  cotton;  for 
those  were  the  days  when  the  Confederates  were  asserting  "Cot- 
ton is  King,"  and  seemed  to  have  a  fair  hope  of  convincing  neu- 
tral nations  of  the  truth  of  their  statement.  But  the  treaty  with 
France  had  accomplished  all  that  was  hoped  from  it;  and  al- 


Emancipation  from  Toryism.  219 

though  there  would  he  no  remission  of  taxation,  there  wonld  be 
no  new  duties  imposed. 

Mr.  Disraeli  attacked  this  budget,  with  what  he  called  a  his- 
torical survey  of  the  finances  of  recent  years  j  and  Sir  Stafford 
Northcote  examined  it  closely  ;  but  these  critics  were  fully  an- 
swered by  Mr.  Gladstone,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Liberals,  as 
the  result  of  the  voting  made  evident. 

As  in  the  previous  session,  there  was  an  attack  made  by  Sir 
George  Bowyer  upon  the  Government  and  people  of  Italy.  To 
this,  as  before,  Mr.  Gladstone  replied,  though  Bowyer's  speech 
commanded  little  or  no  sympathy  from  the  House.  "  Bowyer's 
unrivalled  capacity  for  ignoring  the  march  of  events  was  unden- 
iable," says  one  writer;  and  he  repeated  the  same  arguments  which 
he  had  used  a  year  ago,  and  heard  them  seconded,  as  before,  by  Mr. 
Hennessy.  Mr.  Gladstone's  powerful  speech  began  with  a  state- 
ment of  the  reception  which  Garibaldi  had  met  with  at  Naples, 
and  argued  that  where  an  army  of  80,000  men  had  melted  away 
like  snow  before  a  handful  of  red-shirted  volunteers,  the  people 
could  not  be  said  to  be  very  warmly  attached  to  their  king.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  was  maintained  that  Italy  was  not  a  kingdom, 
because  it  had  not  been  recognized  as  such  by  any  of  the  Euro- 
pean Powers  except  England  and  France.  To  this  Mr.  Gladstone 
retorted  that  a  kingdom  which  had  secured  the  recognition  of 
those  Governments  had  made  very  considerable  progress.  When 
the  cheers  which  greeted  this  sally  had  subsided,  Mr.  Gladstone 
proceeded  to  speak  of  the  occupation  of  Rome,  which  he  depre- 
cated, although  he  desired  to  see  the  Pope's  temporal  power 
abolished. 

Turning  from  the  English  feeling  and  opinion  regarding  Italy, 
which  were  fairly  expressed  by  Mr.  Gladstone's  voice  in  this  in- 
stance, we  come  to  regard  the  English  attitude  with  relation  to 
the  affairs  of  America.  •  The  engagements  of  Manassas  and 
Shiloh  had  been  favorable  to  the  Confederates  ;  other  battles,  of 
less  note,  had  followed,  in  which  the  success  had  frequently  been 
on  the  other  side.  At  this  time,  however,  the  palm  remained 
with  the  Southern  States ;  it  was  not  until  the  middle  of  1863 
when  the  tide  was  finally  turned,  that  it  became  evident  to  clear- 
sighted onlookers  that  the  South  was  doomed  to  inevitable  defeat. 
There  had  been  many  collisions  between  the  British  and  Ameri- 
can Governments,  when  the  direction  of  affairs  at  Washington 
was  largely  in  the  hands  of  Southern  men ;  and  the  Lincoln  Ad- 


220  Emancipation  from  Toryism, 

ministration  hoped,  for  that  reason,  to  secure  the  unshaken 
friendship  of  the  English.  But  these  conflicts  were  remembered 
at  London  as  differences  with  Americans,  undistinguished  by  sec- 
tions; and  British  Government  did  many  things  which  even  a 
friend  of  the  South  cannot  consider  strictly  impartial.  "We  pass 
over  the  course  pursued  with  regard  to  those  Confederate  com- 
missioners to  London  and  Paris,  who  were  forcibly  taken,  by  a 
United  States  man-of-war,  from  under  the  protection  of  a  neutral 
flag  ;  for  President  Lincoln  was  the  first  to  condemn  the  action  of 
the  officer  who  made  the  seizure,  on  the  same  grounds  on  which 
the  American  Government  had  resisted  the  right  of  British  men- 
of-war  to  seize  men  from  under  the  American  flag,  previous  to 
the  war  of  1812,  which  was  fought  to  decide  that  principle.  But  the 
action  of  the  British  Government  in  allowing  privateers  for  the 
Confederate  service  to  be  fitted  out  in  British  ports  was  an  un- 
mistakable evidence  of  the  popular  feeling. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  enter  upon  an  extended  indictment  of 
of  the  English  people  or  the  authorities  constituted  by  them,  for 
the  atttitude  assumed  during  the  American  Civil  War.  We  have 
only  to  note  the  opinion  which  Mr.  Gladstone  held,  having  already 
shown  what  was  the  standpoint  of  his  colleagues  and  their  con- 
stituents. In  a  speech  at  Newcastle  he  expressed  the  decided 
conviction  that  Jefferson  Davis  had  already  succeeded  in  making 
the  Confederate  States  into  a  nation.  As  a  member  of  the  Min- 
istry of  a  neutral  country,  ho  was  undoubtedly  indiscreet  in 
saying  so  ;  but  the  success  with  which  the  Confederate  arms  had 
met  seems  certainly  to  have  justified  him  in  thinking  so.  Writ- 
ing to  a  correspondent  in  New  York,  five  years  later,  he  said  :  "I 
must  confess  that  I  was  wrong  ;  that  I  took  too  much  upon  my- 
self in  expressing  such  an  opinion.  Yet  the  motive  was  not  bad. 
My  sympathies  were  then,  as  they  are  now,  with  the  whole  Am- 
erican people.  I,  probably,  like  many  Europeans,  did  not  un- 
derstand the  nature  and  working  of  the  American  Union.  I  had 
imbibed  conscientiously,  if  erroneously,  an  opinion  that  twenty 
or  twenty-four  millions  of  the  North  would  be  happier,  and 
would  be  stronger  (of  course  assuming  that  they  would  hold  to- 
gether) without  the  South  than  with  it,  and  also  that  the  negroes 
would  be  much  nearer  to  emancipation  under  a  Southern  Gov- 
ernment than  under  the  old  system  of  the  Union,  which  had  not 
at  that  date  (August,  1862)  been  abandoned,  and  which  always 
appeared  to  me  to  place  the  whole  power  of  the  North  at  the  com- 


Emancipation  from  Toryism. 


221 


mand  of  the  slave-holding  interests  of  the  South.  As  far  as  re- 
gards the  special  or  separate  interests  of  England  in  the  matter, 
I,  differing  from  many  others,  had  always  contended  that  it  was 
best  for  our  interests  that  the  Union  should  be  kept  entire." 

To  retrace  our  steps  a  few  months,  there  had  occurred,  in  De- 
cember, 1861,  an  event  which  exerted  a  considerable  influence 
upon  the  English  court.  How  far  the  death  of  the  Prince  Con- 


Prince  Albert, 

sort  affected  the  history  of  the  country,  it  is  idle  to  speculate; 
but  he  so  frequently  took  occasion  to  express  his  admiration  of 
Mr.  G  ladstone  and  the  measures  which  he  proposed,  that  it  is  not 
improbable  that,  had  the  Prince  Consort  lived,  the  Queen  would 
not  have  imbibed  her  well-known  dislike  for  the  foremost  Lib- 
eral statesman  of  her  reign.  On  the  other  hand,  it  can  hardly 
be  said  with  certainty  that  the  Prince  would  always  have  ap- 


222  Emancipation  from  Toryism. 

proved  the  course  which  Mr.  Gladstone  has  taken,  tending  as 
it  has  to  enhance  the  rights  of  the  people  to  a  greater  degree 
than  the  prerogatives  of  the  Crown,  as  well  as  to  increased  lib- 
erality of  sentiment. 

The  session  of  1863  promised  little  of  interest.  The  budget 
was  the  chief  topic  of  discussion,  and  that  did  not  reach  the 
point  in  men's  minds  which  had  been  filled  by  some  of  its  more 
notable  predecessors.  A  considerable  surplus  of  income  over 
expenditure  having  become  a  certainty,  speculation  was  rife  as 
to  how  it  should  be  employed.  In  accordance  with  the  dictates 
of  public  opinion,  Mr.  Gladstone  recommended  the  reduction  of 
the  Income  Tax  and  the  abolition  of  the  war  duties  on  sugar  and 
tea.  The  causes  which  gave  peculiar  interest  to  the  financial 
statements  of  the  last  few  years  were  not  such,  Mr.  Gladstone 
said  in  the  speech  in  which  ho  introduced  the  budget,  as  it  was 
desirable  should  be  permanent;  and  with  this  apology  for  the 
tameness  of  the  plans  which  he  had  to  propose,  and  the  state- 
ments which  he  had  to  make,  the  right  honorable  gentleman 
proceeded  to  state  the  case.  His  speech  of  three  hours  contains 
nothing  more  interesting  than  his  tribute  to  Lancashire^  that 
great  northern  county  in  the  metropolis  of  which  he  first  saw  the 
light.  It  will  be  remembered  that  at  this  time  the  factory- 
hands  of  England  were  suffering  severely  from  the  effects  of  the 
American  war,  which  deprived  them  of  the  larger  part  of  their 
cotton  supply.  Nearly  two  millions  of  persons  had  been  thrown 
out  of  employment,  and  fully  half  a  million  were  at  this  time 
wholly  dependent  upon  charity.  From  the  Queen  to  the  ag- 
ricultural laborer,  who  could  hardly  spare  from  his  own  neces- 
sities the  occasional  half-penny  which  he  gave,  the  charity  of 
the  nation  flowed  in  upon  these  unfortunates  j  but  there  was  a 
vast  amount  of  distress  which  could  not  be  relieved.  But  the 
burden  had  been  borne  manfully,  and  so  Mr.  Gladstone  knew,when 
he  said: 

"Towards  that  Lancashire,  to  which  up  to  this  time  every 
Englishman  has  referred,  if  not  with  pride,  yet  with  satisfaction 
and  thankfulness,  as  among  the  most  remarkable,  or  perhaps  the 
most  remarkable  of  all  the  symbols  that  could  be  presented  of 
the  power,  the  progress,  and  the  prosperity  of  England — towards 
that  Lancashire  we  feel  now  more  warmly  and  more  thankfully 
than  ever  in  regard  to  every  moral  aspect  of  its  condition.  The 
lessons  which  within  the  past  twelve  months  have  been  con' 


Emancipation  from  Toryism.  223 

veyed,  if  in  one  aspect  they  have  heen  painful  and  even  bitter, 
yet  in  other  aspects,  and  those  too,  which  more  intimately  and 
permanently  relate  to  the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  coun- 
try, have  been  lessons  such  as  I  will  venture  to  say  none  of  us 
could  have  hoped  to  learn.  For  however  sanguine  may  have 
been  the  anticipations  entertained  as  to  the  enduring  power  and 
pluck  of  the  English  people,  I  do  not  think  that  any  one  could 
have  estimated  that  power  of  endurance,  that  patience,  that  true 
magnanimity  in  humble  life,  at  a  point  as  high  as  we  now  see 
that  it  has  actually  reached." 

Unfortunately,  this  unexpected  power  of  endurance  was  to  be 
yet  more  fully  tested ;  for  cotton  had  risen  from  8d.  per  pound 
to  2s.  The  blockade  had  not  been  raised,  and  there  was  no  cot- 
ton to  export  if  it  had  been — that  is,  in  amounts  considerable 
enough  to  make  any  material  difference  to  England;  and  India 
and  Egypt,  which  have  since  entered  into  the  competition,  were 
not  yet  fully  equipped  for  the  contest.  Another  cause  of  de- 
pression was  the  condition  of  Ireland,  which  was,  as  usual,  worse 
than  it  had  ever  been  before ;  the  products  being  one-third  less 
than  they  had  been  seven  years  previous. 

The  remission  of  the  tea  duty  and  the  income  tax  were  very 
popular  with  the  country ;  and  the  budget  generally  was  more 
acceptable  to  the  House  as  a  whole  than  any  other  had  been  for 
a  number  of  years.  Mr.  Disraeli  even  had  not  a  word  to  say 
against  it,  but  rose  and  left  the  House  as  soon  as  Mr.  Gladstone 
had  finished  his  speech. 

The  one  proposition  which  aroused  formidable  hostility  was 
that  provision  by  which  charities  were  no  longer  exempt  from 
the  Income  Tax.  One  of  the  largest  and  most  influential  delega- 
tions that  ever  waited  upon  a  Minister  of  the  State  endeavored 
to  persuade  Mr.  Gladstone  that  this  course  was  unjust  and  im- 
politic. The  Duke  of  Cambridge  and  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury headed  the  deputation,  to  which  Mr.  Gladstone  replied 
that  he  would  state  the  reasons  for  the  course  recommended  by 
the  Government  to  the  House  of  Commons,  and  that  upon  the 
decision  of  the  Commons  the  question  should  rest.  He  accord- 
ingly addressed  the  House  the  same  evening,  showing  that  many 
of  the  charities  which  would  be  taxed  were  of  such  a  nature  as  to 
work  a  real  injury  in  character  to  those  whom  they  professed  to 
benefit,  and  that  the  measure  was  eminently  a  just  one.  The 
whole  Ministry  had  agreed  that  it  was  a  proper  course  to  be  pur- 


224  Emancipation  from  Toryism. 

sued,  but  the  sense  of  the  House  was  so  largely  against  it  that 
the  scheme  was  withdrawn  by  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. 

At  a  later  period,  an  amendment  to  the  proposition  regarding 
the  Income  Tax  was  introduced,  providing  that  this  duty  should 
fall  upon  the  net  income  of  invested  property,  and  the  net 
amount  of  industrial  earnings,  which  latter  should  be  subject  to 
such  an  abatement  as  would  equitably  adjust  the  burden  thrown 
upon  intelligence  and  skill  as  compared  with  property.  This 
amendment,  the  substance  of  which  was  regularly  brought  for- 
ward whenever  the  Income  Tax  came  up  for  discussion,  and 
which  had  in  this  instance  been  negatived  by  the  committee 
which  had  first  considered  it,  was  rejected  by  a  considerable 
majority. 

Viewed  from  a  standpoint  of  entire  religious  freedom,  it  is 
curious  to  note  that  in  the  year  1863,  the  British  Parliament 
should  seriously  be  asked  to  pass  a  law  enabling  Dissenters  to  be 
buried  in  the  common  cemeteries  without  the  rites  of  the  Church 
of  England  being  performed  over  the  bodies.  Yet  so  it  was.  Nor 
was  it  a  mere  act  of  tardy  justice,  the  repeal  of  a  law  which  had 
become  a  dead  letter,  and  was  therefore  unanimously  decreed 
should  remain  no  longer  upon  the  statute  book ;  there  was  ac- 
tive opposition  to  it,  and  it  was  finally  rejected  by  a  vote  of 
221  to  96. 

Mr.  Gladstone  felt  the  anomaly,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  express 
himself  freely.  In  his  speech  upon  the  subject,  he  said:  "I  do 
not  see  that  there  is  sufficient  reason,  or  indeed,  any  reason  at 
all,  why,  after  having  granted,  and  most  properly  granted,  to  the 
entire  community  the  power  of  professing  and  practicing  what 
form  of  religion  they  please  during  life,  you  should  say  to  them- 
selves or  their  relatives,  when  dead,  'We  will  at  the  last  lay  our 
hands  upon  you,  and  will  not  permit  you  to  enjoy  the  privilege 
of  being  buried  in  the  church-yard,  where,  perhaps,  the  ashes  of 
your  ancestors  repose,  or,  at  any  rate,  in  the  place  of  which  you 
are  parishioners,  unless  you  appear  there  as  members  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  as  members  of  that  Church,  have  her 
services  read  over  your  remains.'  That  appears  to  me  an  in- 
consistency and  an  anomaly  in  the  present  state  of  the  law,  and 
is  in  the  nature  of  a  grievance." 

It  was  by  such  utterances  as  this  that  Mr.  Gladstone  first  cre- 
ated, and  then  widened,  that  breach  between  himself  and  his 
constituency  at  Oxford,  which  ended  in  his  failure  to  be  re- 


Emancipation  from  Toryism.  225 

elected.    In  some  cases,  it  would  appear,  it  is  an  honor  to  fail. 

On  but  one  other  occasion  did  Mr.  Gladstone,  during  this  ses- 
sion, engage  in  a  debate  of  any  importance;  and  the  interest  at- 
taching to  that  discussion  rather  arises  from  the  fact  that  the 
Government  was  defeated  by  a  considerable  majority,  than  from 
any  inherent  value  it  may  have  for  us.  The  proposition  was 
made  to  appropriate  a  considerable  sum,  in  addition  to  that 
which  had  already  been  voted  for  the  purchase  of  the  ground, 
for  the  buildings  of  the  International  Exhibition  which  had  been 
held  at  South  Kensington.  Lord  Palmerston  being  kept  away 
from  the  House  by  illness,  the  duty  of  bringing  this  bill  before 
the  House  devolved  upon  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  who 
pointed  out  that  the  Government  was  under  the  necessity  of  pro- 
viding suitable  accommodations  for  the  Portrait  Gallery,  the 
Patent  Museum,  and  the  Natural  History  Collections  of  the 
British  Museum,  and  that  this  was  the  only  opportunity  that  of- 
fered. Mr.  Disraeli  and  Mr.  Lowe  were  both  anxious  to  express 
their  approval  of  this  scheme  of  the  Government,  but  neither  of 
them  could  obtain  a  hearing,  so  great  was  the  confusion  in  the 
House,  the  Independent  members  of  which  surprised  both  the 
Government  and  the  Opposition  by  their  attitude  upon  this 
question.  Although  the  majority  against  the  Government  was 
an  overwhelming  one,  the  question  was  not  of  sufficient  import- 
ance to  warrant  its  being  regarded  as  a  vote  of  no  confidence; 
and  the  defeat  was  therefore  passed  over  as  a  matter  of  small 
moment. 

The  budget  of  1864  was  brought  before  the  House  in  Api'il.  It 
was  well  known  that  there  was  a  considerable  surplus,  and  there 
was  much  interest  manifested  in  the  disposition  of  this  sum.  It 
proved  to  be  somewhat  larger  than  even  the  most  sanguine  had 
anticipated — more  than  two  millions  sterling  when  the  expenses 
of  fortifications  had  been  allowed  for.  Mr.  Gladstone's  state- 
ment of  the  condition  of  the  national  finances  commanded  the 
same  flattering  attention  which  had  been  accorded  to  him  on 
similar  occasions  previously,  the  House  being  packed  in  every 
part,  with  the  members,  peers,  foreign  ministers,  and  other  dis- 
tinguished visitors  crowding  the  places  assigned  to  them. 

The  prosperity  of  the  country  was  indicated  by  the  trade  sta- 
tistics which  he  brought  forward,  and  pauperism  was  shown  to 
be  no  greater,  outside  of  Lancashire,  which  was  still  suffering 
for  cotton,  than  was  usual.  The  estimated  income  and  expendi- 


226  Emancipation  from  Toryism. 

ture  for  the  ensuing  year  showed,  upon  comparison,  that  there 
would  then  be  a  considerable  surplus.  It  was  the  duty  of  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  to  order  the  taxation  in  such  a  way 
that  this  surplus  would  be  returned  to  the  tax-payers,  by  the  re- 


Reeeiving  News  of  the  Ministerial  Crisis, 

duction  of  certain  duties.  To  do  this  required  a  readjustment  of 
the  taxes  according  to  the  best  calculations  possible,  and  even  then 
it  was  not  within  human  power  to  foretell  what  the  actual  result 
would  prove  to  be.  The  tax  on  sugar  was  to  be  reduced, 
and  also  that  on  fire  insurance ;  and  the  Income  Tax  was  to  be 


Emancipation  from  Toryism.  22? 

one  penny  less  on  each  pound  than  it  had  been.  The  budget  was 
most  favorably  received,  and  although  there  were  notices  given 
of  opposition  on  some  minor  points,  all  the  propositions  were 
finally  carried  without  a  division. 

A  third  measure  which  was  conceived  in  the  special  interest  of 
the  working-classes  was  brought  forward  this  session  by  Mr. 
Gladstone.  This  was  a  bill  to  amend  the  law  relating  to  the  pur- 
chase of  Government  annuities  through  the  medium  of  savings- 
banks,  and  to  enable  the  granting  of  life  insurances  by  the  Gov- 
ernment. During  his  long  public  life,  Mr.  Gladstone  said  in  the 
debate  on  this  question,  he  had  never  received  so  many  letters  as 
he  had  upon  this  measure,  from  various  classes  of  the  com- 
munity, all  expressing  their  approval  of  the  bill,  and  their  grat- 
itude for  it.  Although  this  was  the  outside  estimate  of  it,  the 
House  was  by  no  means  so  unanimous,  and  there  were  many 
who  inveighed  against  the  evils  of  a  paternal  government.  Af- 
ter the  defeat  of  an  amendment  which  was  directed  against  the 
whole  scheme,  the  bill  was  referred  to  a  select  committee,  by 
which  it  was  favorably  reported  back,  with  a  few  minor  changes 
recommended,  and  finally  it  passed  both  Houses,  being  warmly 
supported  by  many  of  both  parties. 

It  was  during  this  session  that  Mr.  Baines  brought  forward  his 
bill  for  lowering  the  borough  franchise;  and  Mr.  Gladstone 
startled  the  House,  and  ultimately  his  constituents  and  the 
country,  by  his  utterances  upon  the  subject  of  Reform.  His 
words  evince  so  clearly  the  advanced  liberalism  of  his  views, 
and  are  so  applicable,  not  only  to  English  affairs  of  that  time, 
but  to  the  labor  troubles  of  the  present,  that  we  make  no 
apology  for  quoting  them  : 

"We  are  told  that  the  working-class  don't  agitate;  but  is  it 
desirable  that  we  should  wait  until  they  do  agitate  ?  In  my 
opinion,  agitation  by  the  working-classes  upon  any  political 
subject  whatever  is  a  thing  not  to  be  waited  for,  not  to  be  made 
a  condition  previous  to  any  Parliamentary  movement,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  is  to  be  deprecated,  and,  if  possible,  prevented  by 
wise  and  provident  measures.  An  agitation  by  the  working- 
classes  is  not  like  an  agitation  by  the  classes  above  them  having 
leisure.  The  agitation  of  the  classes  having  leisure  is  easily  con- 
ducted. Every  hour  of  their  time  has  not  a  money  value;  their 
wives  and  children  are  not  dependent  on  the  application  of  those 
hours  to  labor.  When  a  working-man  finds  himself  in  such  a 


228  Emancipation  from  Toryism. 

condition  that  he  must  abandon  that  daily  labor  on  which  he  is 
strictly  dependent  for  his  daily  bread,  it  is  only  because  then,  in 
railway  language,  the  danger  signal  is  turned  on,  and  because  he 
feels  a  strong  necessity  for  action,  and  a  distrust  of  the  rulers 
who  have  driven  him  to  that  necessity.  The  present  state  of 
things,  I  rejoice  to  say,  docs  not  indicate  that  distrust;  but  if  we 
admit  that,  we  must  not  allege  the  absence  of  agitation  on  the 
part  of  the  working-classes  as  a  reason  why  the  Parliament  of 
England  and  the  public  mind  of  England  should  be  indisposed 
to  entertain  the  discussion  of  this  question." 

The  resolution  was  defeated,  but  the  majority  was  not  a  very 
large  one,  and  Mr.  Gladstone's  speech  was  thought  at  the  time  to 
have  influenced  many  who  would  otherwise  have  voted  against 
it.  The  expression  of  such  opinions  went  far  to  restore  confi- 
dence in  the  Ministry  which  had  come  into  office  pledged  to  Re- 
form, but  which  had  become  divided  in  itself  upon  that  very 
subject. 

July  4th,  Mr.  Disraeli  proposed  a  resolution  censuring  the 
Government  for  its  foreign  policy,  particularly  in  connection 
with  the  war  then  in  progress  between  Germany  and  Denmark. 
This  was  the  highest  point  which  the  hostility  to  the  Govern- 
ment had  yet  reached,  and  Mr.  Disraeli  was  loudly  cheered  by 
his  political  friends  as  he  spoke  in  support  of  his  motion.  It  fell 
to  the  lot  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  to  reply  to  the 
leader  of  the  Opposition,  and  his  eloquent  speech  was  the  open- 
ing of  a  protracted  debate.  The  motion  was  so  worded  that,  as 
Mr.  Gladstone  expressed  it,  it  could  not  transfix  the  Government 
without  first  passing  through  the  honor  of  England. 

An  amusing,  feature  of  this  debate  was  the  speech  of  Mr.  Berrial 
Osborne,  in  which  he  compared  the  Cabinet  to  a  collection  of 
birds  of  rare  and  noble  plumage,  some  alive,  some  stuifed.  Un- 
fortunately, ho  said,  there  had  been  a  difficulty  in  keeping  tip  the 
breed,  and  it  had  been  found  necessary  to  cross  it  with  the  fa- 
mous Peelites.  The  honorable  member  continued:  "I  will  do 
them  the  justice  to  say  that  they  have  a  very  great  and  able 
Minister  among  them  in  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  and  it 
is  to  his  measures  alone  that  they  owe  the  little  popularity  and 
the  little  support  that  they  get  from  this  Liberal  Party."  Mr. 
Gibson,  he  said,  was  like  the  fly  in  amber,  as  the  wonder  was 
"how  the  devil  he  got  there;"  and  he  proposed,  as  an  epitaph 
for  the  soon-to-be-defunct  Ministry,  "  Best  and  be  Thankful." 


Emancipation  from  Toryism.  229 

Although  the  inscription  for  the  mausoleum  was  thus  kindly 
furnished  in  advance,  there  was  no  immediate  use  for  it,  as  a  di- 
vision showed  that  the  Ministers  had  a  majority  of  eighteen. 

The  Opposition  had  done  its  best  to  defeat  the  Ministry,  and 
had  failed  j  it  is  then  without  surprise  that  we  learn  that  there 
were  no  more  debates  of  interest  during  the  remainder  of  the 
session.  The  session  of  1865  affords  us  but  one  clear  view  of  the 
central  figure  of  our  narrative,  excepting,  of  course,  his  official 
speech  as  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  In  March  of  this  year 
Mr.  Dillwyn  moved  a  resolution  affirming  that  the  state  of  the 
Irish  Church  was  unsatisfactory,  and  called  for  the  early  atten- 
tion of  her  Majesty's  Government.  After  several  speeches,  Mr. 
Gladstone  rose  and  entered  into  a  full  examination  of  the  ques- 
tion of  the  Irish  Church.  He  frankly  admitted  that  its  state  was 
unsatisfactory,  but  said  that  having  regard  to  the  difficulties 
which  stood  in  the  way  of  removing  the  anomalies  it  presented, 
he  could  not  support  the  resolution.  This  declaration,  to  which 
subsequent  events  gave  great  significance,  intimated  that  Mr. 
Gladstone,  who  had  always  been  regarded  as  a  firm  supporter  of 
the  Irish  as  well  as  of  the  English  Church,  believed  that  the 
days  of  the  former  institution  were  numbered  j  and  that  its  dis- 
establishment was  only  a  question  of  time.  This  declaration  car- 
ried consternation  not  only  into  the  Conservative  ranks  but  into 
those  of  the  Government,  and  caused  him  to  be  regarded  as  the 
leader  of  the  party  which  favored  the  disestablishment  of  the 
Irish  Church.  The  opinions  of  Mr.  Gladstone  had  more  signifi- 
cance at  this  time  than  they  had  ever  had  before;  for  it  was  upon 
his  shoulders  that  the  mantle  of  the  leader  must  soon  descend. 
Lord  Palmerston  was  now  past  his  eightieth  year,  Earl  Russell, 
who  had  in  1861  ceased  to  bear  the  courtesy  title  of  Lord  John, 
by  which  he  had  long  been  known,  was  considerably  past  sev- 
enty. The  Premier  could  not  long  retain  the  reins  of  office,  and 
then  Mr.  Gladstone  must  succeed  to  the  leadership  of  the  House  or 
of  the  Opposition,  as  the  ease  might  be.  In  any  event,  whether 
the  present  Ministry  retained  office  or  not,  the  Liberal  leader 
would  have  much  to  do  with  the  question  of  the  Irish  Church. 

Mr.  Baines  again  brought  forward  his  measure  during  this 
session  for  the  reduction  of  the  Franchise.  Sir  George  Grey, 
speaking  on  behalf  of  his  colleagues  in  the  Cabinet,  maintained 
that  they  had  fulfilled  their  pledges,  but  declined  to  make  any 
promises  for  the  next  session.  Mr.  Gladstone  sat  by  in  silence 


230  Emancipation  from,  Toryism. 

during  the  debate.  It  was  reported  at  the  time  that  his  col- 
leagues had  exacted  from  him  a  promise  not  to  speak  on  the 
subject;  but  this  has  been  authoritatively  denied.  Certainly  such 
a  promise  could  do  little  good,  in  view  of  the  emphatic  words 
which  he  had  used  in  support  of  the  proposed  measure  a  year 
before. 

The  budget  of  the  year  showed  a  considerable  decrease  in  the 
distress  which  had  existed  for  some  time  past;  and  the  termin- 
ation of  the  American  Civil  War  gave  reason  to  hope  that  there 
would  not  again  be  a  scarcity  of  that  staple  of  manufactures 
which  was  now  being  in  some  measure  supplied  by  India  and 
Egypt.  Reductions  of  taxation  amounting  to  nearly  five  and  a 
half  millions  sterling  were  proposed;  and  the  Chancellor  as- 
sured the  House  that  there  would  still  be  a  surplus  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  Government. 

The  olose  of  the  session  saw  great  irregularity  in  the  number 
of  members  present  at  different  times ;  for  a  general  election  was 
rapidly  approaching,  and  the  representatives  of  the  people  fre- 
quently had  occasion  to  leave  their  seats  in  Parliament  to  ad- 
dress their  constituents.  There  were  few  or  no  measures  of  im- 
portance, the  one  of  most  general  interest  being  the  attack  upon 
Lord  Chancellor  Westbury,  originating  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
but  finally  carried  to  the  House  of  Commons,  and  resulting  in  his 
resignation. 

Parliament  would  expire  by  limitation  that  summer,  and  it 
was  accordingly  prorogued,  with  a  view  to  immediate  dissolu- 
tion, early  in  July.  The  Conservatives  looked  for  immense 
gains,  basing  their  hopes  upon  some  victories  which  they  had 
recently  obtained.  The  Liberals  seem  to  have  been  doubtful 
as  to  the  result.  But  the  result  for  which  one  had  hoped,  and 
the  other  had  feared,  was  not  to  be;  the  Conservatives  had  been 
far  too  sanguine. 

To  turn  from  the  general  aspect  to  that  which  more  nearly 
concerns  the  hero  of  our  biography,  is  a  duty  which  now  be- 
comes especially  imperative.  Of  all  the  elections  of  this  period 
the  one  which  excited  the  most  intense  interest  was  that  for  the 
University  of  Oxford,  where  Mr.  Gladstone  was  opposed  by  Mr. 
Gathorne  Hardy.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  there  recognized  as  an 
able  man,  it  is  true;  but  he  was  thought  too  brilliant  to  bo  en- 
tirely safe.  No  such  intellectual  pre-eminence  has  ever  been 
claimed  for  his  opponent  in  this  contest,  as  a  historian  of  the 


Emancipation  from  Toryism.  231 

time  naively  observes.  Certainly,  Mr.  Gladstone's  advanced 
Liberalism  was  extremely  distasteful  to  the  Tories  of  Oxford, 
whom  he  was  supposed  to  represent.  In  anticipation  of  his  de- 
feat there,  which  was  not  considered  improbable  even  by  his 
friends,  arrangements  were  made  for  bringing  him  forward  for 
South  Lancashire  at  once.  It  is  a  somewhat  singular  phase  of 
the  question,  that  his  Liberal  friends  were  as  desirous  that  he 
should  be  defeated  at  Oxford  as  the  most  vehement  Tory  could  be. 

Finding  that  the  seat  was  in  danger,  when  the  polling  had  con- 
tinued for  four  of  the  five  days,  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
which  had  Mr.  Gladstone's  interests  in  charge  issued  a  circular 
to  the  electors  who  were  still  unpledged,  pressing  upon  them  the 
duty  of  recording  their  votes  for  the  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer. "  The  Committee  do  not  scruple  to  advocate  his  cause 
on  grounds  above  the  common  level  of  politics/7  said  this  docu- 
ment. "  They  claim  for  him  the  gratitude  due  to  one  whose  pub- 
lic life  has  for  eighteen  years  reflected  a  lustre  upon  the  Univer- 
sity herself.  They  confidently  invite  you  to  consider  whether  his 
pure  and  exalted  character,  his  splendid  abilities,  and  his 
eminent  services  to  Church  and  State,  do  not  constitute  the 
highest  of  all  qualifications  for  an  academical  seat,  and  entitle 
him  to  be  judged  by  his  constituents  as  he  will  assuredly  be 
judged  by  posterity."  Among  the  voters  who  endorsed  this 
document  by  their  action,  taken  before  or  after  its  appearance, 
were  some  of  the  men  whose  names  are  most  splendid  in  the  roll 
of  modern  scholars.  Keble  and  Pusey,  Alford  and  Stanley,  Wil- 
berforce  and  Farrar,  Palgrave  and  Freeman,  Max  Muller,  and  a 
host  of  others  whom  we  have  not  space  to  record,  upheld  the 
scholarly  financier  as  their  choice.  It  was  not  academic  Oxford 
which  defeated  him — for  defeated  he  was — but  the  vast  body  of 
outsiders  who  had  votes. 

The  Thunderer  launched  its  stately  sentences  against  the  in- 
stitution of  learning  which  had  thus  rejected  as  its  represent- 
ative a  man  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  distinction  as  a  scholar;  and 
added  to  its  fulminations  against  Oxford  the  assurance  that 
"  henceforth  Mr.  Gladstone  will  belong  to  the  country,  but  no 
longer  to  the  University.  Those  Oxford  influences  and  tradi- 
tions which  have  so  long  colored  his  views,  and  so  greatly  in- 
terfered with  his  better  judgment,  must  gradually  lose  their  hold 
upon  him."  To  the  words  of  the  Times  the  crisper  sentences 
of  the  Daily  News,  the  chief  Liberal  organ,  were  a  fitting  echo: 


232 


Emancipation  from  Toryism. 


"The  late  Sir  Robert  Peel  was  but  the  chief  of  a  party,  until 
admonished  by  one  ostracism,  he  finally  became  emancipated  by 
another.  It  is  thus  that  men  rise  from  opposition  to  greater 
effort,  and  the  instances  are  not  few  in  which  by  facing  public 


Cathedral  of  St.  Paul — London. 

scorn  they  have  risen  to  a  higher  plane,  and  have  rendered 
their  names  illustrious — names  that  might  have  been  almost 
buried  in  oblivion  but  for  the  ostracism  they  were  compelled  to 
suffer.  Not  every  one  is  able  to  learn  wisdom  from  past  experi- 
ences. Then,  as  now,  the  statesman  who  was  destined  to  give 
up  to  mankind  what  was  never  meant  for  the  barren  service  of  a 


Emancipation  from  Toryism.  233 

party,  could  say  to  those  honest   bigots  who  thus  rejected  him: 

"  I  banish  you ; 
There  is  a  world  elsewhere." 

As  soon  as  it  became  evident  that  he  would  be  defeated  at  Ox- 
ford, Mr.  Gladstone  hastened  down  to  Lancashire,  and  lost  no 
time  in  presenting  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  southern  di- 
vision of  that  county,  where  three  Conservatives  and  two  Lib- 
erals were  already  in  nomination  for  the  three  seats.  It  was  on 
Tuesday,  the  day  of  the  great  Manchester  weekly  market,  that 
he  arrived  there,  and  the  exchange  of  the  city  was  crowded,  as 
usual,  by  the  merchants  and  manufacturers,  not  only  of  Man- 
chester, but  of  all  the  populous  district  surrounding  the  cotton 
metropolis  of  Britain.  About  three  o'clock  it  was  announced 
that  Mr.  Gladstone  was  in  Manchester;  that  he  had  come  for- 
ward as  a  candidate  for  the  representation  of  the  southern  di- 
vision of  the  county;  and  that  he  was  about  to  deliver  an  ad- 
dress to  the  electors  in  the  great  room  of  Free  Trade  Hall.  In  a 
few  moments  that  immense  room  was  packed  by  an  eager  au- 
dience, the  enthusiasm  of  which  was  raised  to  the  highest  pitch. 
In  that  silvery  voice  which  was  not  the  least  charm  of  his  oratory, 
the  famous  statesman  began  his  speech,  asking  these  constitu- 
ents, for  the  first  time,  for  their  suffrages.  They  heard  one 
sentence;  it  was  enough  to  make  their  self-restraint  no  longer 
endurable. 

"At  last,  my  friends,  I  am  come  among  you;  and  lam  come — 
to  use  an  expression  which  has  become  very  famous,  and  is  not 
likely  to  be  forgotten — I  am  come  among  you  unmuzzled." 

The  shout  that  arose  as  soon  as  these  words  were  uttered  was 
the  expression  of  the  Liberal  triumph  in  the  acquisition  of  such 
a  leader  from  the  enemy.  From  that  time,  the  last  tie  was  sev- 
ered that  had  bound  the  great  statesman  to  the  party  of  his  early 
youth;  from  that  time  he  was  only  to  grow  into  wider  and 
deeper  sympathy  with  the  people  of  England,  with  the  cause  of 
human  liberty.  No  longer  trammeled  by  the  thought  of  what  was 
due  to  his  constituents,  when  he  would  have  spoken  freely  on  the 
great  questions  which  were  awaiting  solution,  he  was  now  rep- 
resenting men  whose  ideas,  like  his  own,  were  in  fuller  accord- 
ance with  the  progressive  spirit  of  the  age. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

REPRESENTING  SOUTH  LANCASHIRE. 

Love  for  the  University — Address  to  the  Electors  of  Liverpool — Popularity  in 
the  Large  Towns  -  Death  of  Lord  Palmerston — Grave  Concern  Over  the 
Irish  Troubles — Old  Question  of  Church  Rates — Criticism  of  the  Reform 
Bill — "Cave  of  Adullam" — Extension  of  the  Franchise — Gladstone's 
Victory— Speeches  in  Scotland — Ministry  Formed  by  Earl  Derby — A  New 
Reform  Bill — Raising  Income  for  the  Government — Public  Comment  on 
Mr.  Gladstone — Scotch  and  Irish  Affairs — The  Irish  Church — Majority 
for  the  Liberals — Various  Bills  in  the  Commons. 

R.  GLADSTONE  could  hardly  be  said  to  have  been  elect 
ted  by  an  overwhelming  majority ;  for  he  was  third  or 
the  list  of  the  six  candidates  for  the  three  seats.  Bui 
the  majority  of  the  votes  cast  were  for  Conservatives;  for  bis 
new  colleagues  both  belonged  to  that  party,  and  the  fourth  on 
the  list  was  also  a  supporter  of  the  Opposition.  This  renders  his 
election  the  more  remarkable  tribute  to  the  man,  independent  of 
parties. 

That  emancipation  from  the  thraldom  of  the  University's  de- 
mands was  not  an  unmixed  joy  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  however  it 
may  have  been  welcomed  by  his  friends.  In  that  very  speech, 
the  first  sentence  of  which  had  been  so  enthusiastically  cheered, 
he  said : 

"  I  have  loved  the  University  with  a  deep  and  passionate  love, 
and  as  long  as  I  breathe,  that  attachment  will  continue  ;  if  my 
affection  is  of  the  smallest  advantage  to  that  great,  that  ancient, 
that  noble  institution,  that  advantage,  such  as  it  is — and  it  is 
most  insignificant — Oxford  will  possess  as  long  as  I  live.  But 
don't  mistake  the  issue  which  has  been  raised.  The  University 
has  at  length,  after  eighteen  years  of  self-denial,  been  drawn  by 
what  I  might,  perhaps,  call  an  overweening  exercise  of  power, 
into  the  vortex  of  mere  politics.  Well,  you  will  readily  under- 
stand why,  as  long  as  I  had  a  hope  that  the  zeal  and  kindness  of 
my  friends  might  keep  mo  in  my  place,  it  was  impossible  for  me 
to  abandon  them.  Could  they  have  returned  me  by  amajority  of 

234 


Representing  South  Lancashire.  23S 

one.  painful  as  it  is  to  a  man  of  my  time  of  life,  and  feeling  the 
weight  of  public  cares,  to  be  incessantly  struggling  for  his  seat, 
nothing  could  have  induced  me  to  quit  that  University  to  which 
I  had  so  long  ago  devoted  my  best  care  and  attachment.  But  by 
no  act  of  mine,  I  am  free  to  come  among  you.  And  having  been 
thus  set  free,  I  need  hardly  tell  you  that  it  is  with  joy,  with 
thankfulness  and  enthusiasm,  that  I  now,  at  this  eleventh  hour, 
a  candidate  without  an  address,  make  my  appeal  to  the  heart 
and  the  mind  of  South  Lancashire,  and  ask  you  to  pro- 
nounce upon  that  appeal.  As  I  have  said,  I  am  aware  of  no 
cause  for  the  votes  which  have  given  a  majority  against  me  in 
the  University  of  Oxford,  except  the  fact  that  the  strongest  con- 
viction that  the  human  mind  can  receive,  that  an  overpowering 
sense  of  the  public  interests,  that  the  practical  teachings  of  ex- 
perience, to  which  from  my  youth  Oxford  herself  taught  me  to 
lay  open  my  mind,  all  these  had  shown  me  the  folly,  and  I  will 
say,  the  madness  of  refusing  to  join  in  the  generous  sympathies 
of  my  countrymen,  by  adopting  what  I  may  call  an  obstructive 
policy." 

In  an  address  to  the  electors  of  Liverpool,  he  felicitously  re- 
ferred to  the  peculiar  features  of  the  two  constituencies. 

"  We  see  represented  in  that  ancient  institution — represented 
more  nobly,  perhaps,  and  more  conspicuously  than  in  any  other 
place,  at  any  rate  with  more  remarkable  concentration — the 
most  prominent  features  which  relate  to  the  past  of  England.  I 
come  into  South  Lancashire,  and  I  find  around  mo  an  assemblage 
of  different  phenomena.  I  find  development  of  industry ;  I  find 
growth  of  enterprise  ;  I  find  progress  of  social  philanthropy;  I 
find  prevalence  of  toleration  ;  and  I  find  an  ardent  desire  for  free- 
dom *  *  *  *  I  have  honestly,  I  have  earnestly,  although  I  may 
have  feebly,  striven  to  unite  in  my  insignificant  person  that 
which  is  represented  by  Oxford  and  that  which  is  represented  by 
Lancashire.  My  desire  is  that  they  should  know  and  love  one 
another.  If  I  have  clung  to  the  representation  of  the  Univer- 
sity with  desperate  fondness,  it  is  because  I  would  not  desert 
that  post  in  which  I  seem  to  have  been  placed.  I  have  not  aban- 
doned it.  I  have  been  dismissed  from  it,  not  by  academical,  but 
by  political  agencies.  I  don't  complain  of  those  political  influ- 
ences by  which  I  have  been  displaced.  The  free  constitutional 
spirit  of  the  country  requires  that  the  voice  of  the  majority 
should  prevail.  I  hope  tKat  the  voice  of  the  majority  will  pre- 


236  Representing  South  Lancashire. 

vail  in  South  Lancashire.  I  do  not  for  a  moment  complain  that 
it  should  have  prevailed  in  Oxford.  But,  gentlemen,  I  come  now 
to  ask  you  a  question,  whether,  because  I  have  been  declared  un- 
fit longer  to  serve  the  University  on  account  of  my  political  po- 
sition, there  is  anything  in  that  position,  there  is  anything  in 
what  I  have  said  and  done,  in  the  arduous  office  which  I  hold, 
which  is  to  unfit  me  for  the  representation  of  my  native  county?" 

Mr.  Gladstone's  strength,  as  shown  by  this  election,  lay  in 
the  large  towns  rather  than  in  the  country  boroughs j  for  in 
Liverpool,  Manchester,  and  all  the  other  towns  in  this  portion  of 
the  county,  his  name  stood  at  the  head  of  the  poll.  We  shall 
look  to  see  him,  then  representing  the  sentiments  of  the  Liber- 
als of  the  cities,  rather  than  the  more  modified  sentiments 
which  are  usual  in  the  English  country  districts,  which  are  large- 
ly Conservative. 

But  although  the  hands  of  the  Ministry  were  strengthened  by 
considerable  Liberal  gains  in  this  general  election,  contrary  to 
the  expectations  of  both  parties,  it  had  met  with  a  severe  loss 
in  the  death  of  one  oi  its  ablest  supporters.  This  was  Eichard 
Cobden,  who  had  been  named  "  The  Apostle  of  Free  trade. "  He 
was  not  a  member  of  the  Cabinet,  for  he  had  declined  the  ap- 
pointment which  Palmerston  had  offered  him,  on  account  of  his 
opposition  to  the  Premier's  ideas  regarding  the  foreign  policy 
to  be  pursued;  but  his  closest  political  ally,  Mr.  Milner  Gibson, 
had  accepted  the  post  which  Cobden  declined,  and  it  was  under- 
stood that  this  was  nearly  equivalent  to  his  taking  office  himself. 
He  died  early  in  April,  1865.  While  his  loss  was  severely  felt  by 
the  Liberals,  it  was  still  more  a  blow  to  that  little  band  of  Eadi- 
cals  of  whom  he  was  really  the  foremost  member,  though  the 
polished  sauvity  of  his  manner,  contrasted  with  the  abrupt  force 
of  Bright,  gave  most  persons  the  impression  that  he  was  rather 
more  conservative  than  his  great  comrade.  To  the  sturdy 
Quaker  personally  it  was  a  severe  blow  j  and  his  tribute  to  his 
friend,  spoken  too  soon  after  that  friend's  death  to  be  esteemed 
a  formal  memorial  address,  is  one  of  the  most  pathetic  of  its 
kind:  "  After  a  close  friendship  of  many  years,  I  never  knew 
how  much  I  lo^ed  him  till  I  lost  him."  And  the  strong,  firm-set 
man  sat  down  and  wept,  regardless  of  the  gaze  of  his  colleagues. 

The  death  of  Cobden  had  occurred  during  the  session  of  1865. 
Before  Parliament  was  again  called  together,  there  was  anoth- 
er vacancy  in  the  ranks  of  the  Liberal  party — the  man  who  was 


Eepresenting  South  Lancashire.  237 

nominally  at  its  head,  by  reason  of  the  position  which  he  had  held. 
Lord  Palmerston  was  nearly  eighty-one,  but  although  he  had  oc- 
casionally been  kept  from  the  House  by  attacks  of  the  gout,  he 
was  far  more  regular  in  his  attendance  there  than  many  a  young- 
er man.  While  Premier,  he  underwent  an  amount  of  work  which 
at  his  age  seemed  phenomenal ;  and  all  the  strength  and  spright- 
liness  of  his  character  were  maintained  to  the  last.  He  died  af- 
ter an  illness  of  six  days,  in  the  latter  part  of  October.  There 
was  but  one  man  whom  public  opinion  named  as  him  to  whom 
the  vacant  post  of  right  belonged.  Earl  Eussell  the  former  op- 
ponent, the  recent  associate,  of  the  dead  Premier,  was  appointed 
by  the  Queen  the  First  Minister  of  the  Crown.  His  age,  his 
great  services,  his  high  reputation,  his  honorablecharacter,  made 
his  claims  generally  admitted.  Five  years  before,  the  Prime  Min- 
ister would  have  been  the  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons  ;  but 
the  courtesy  title  had  given  place  to  one  borne  by  right,  and  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  succeeded  to  the  first  rank  in  the 
lower  branch  of  the  national  councils.  It  may  here  be  noted,  in 
explanation  of  the  apparent  anomaly  of  Palmerston's  being  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  that  he  was  an  Irish  Peer,  and  as  such 
not  entitled  to  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords  unless  elected  to  it 
by  the  whole  body  of  Irish  Peers. 

The  death  of  Lord  Palmerston  removed  all  doubt  as  to  what 
the  Ministry  would  do  upon  the  subject  of  Reform.  But  before  en- 
tering upon  this  much  vexed  question,  it  will  perhaps  bo  best  to 
consider  briefly  some  other  subjects  which  came  before  Parlia- 
ment this  session.  Having  thus  cleared  the  stage,  the  progress 
of  that  great  political  drama  can  be  watched  without  interrup- 
tion. 

The  budget  was  introduced  May  3rd,  during  a  suspension  of 
the  hostilities  then  raging  in  regard  to  the  Government's  Eeform 
Bill.  There  was  a  surplus  of  sufficient  magnitude  to  warrant 
certain  reductions  of  duties.  The  duty  on  timber  was  to  be  abol- 
ished, as  well  as  that  on  pepper  j  and  the  duty  on  wine  in  bottles 
and  that  on  wine  in  wood  were  to  be  equalized.  Certain  changes 
were  recommended  in  the  duties  on  locomotion;  but  in  recom- 
mending these  changes  the  right  honorable  gentleman  took  care 
not  to  add  to  the  burdens  of  the  middle  and  lower  classes.  The 
tea  duties  were  to  be  renewed,  and  the  Income  Tax  was  to  be  4d.  in 
the  pound.  The  National  Debt  had  been  reduced  from  £18,- 
000,000  in  1858  to  £8,267,000,  and  the  time  for  further  reduction 


238  Representing  South  Lancashire. 

was  most  favorable.  These  provisions  met  with  little  opposition. 
A  proposition  to  convert  a  portion  of  the  National  Debt  into 
terminable  annuities  was  made  the  subject  of  a  separate  bill, 
which  did  not  pass  beyond  the  second  reading,  owing  to  the 
changes  which  took  place  during  the  session. 

Mr.  Gladstone  had  visited  Glasgow  in  the  autumn  of  1865,  and 
hud  been,  with  due  formalities,  presented  with  the  freedom  of  the 
city.  He  had  then  spoken  most  feelingly  of  the  loss  which  the 
country  had  recently  sustained  in  the  death  of  a  statesman  like 
Pulmerston.  He  was  now  called  upon,  by  the  duties  of  his  position 
as  Leader  of  the  House,  for  an  official  utterance.  The  subject  was 
an  address  to  the  Queen,  praying  her  to  order  the  erection  of  a 
monument  to  the  late  Premier  in  Westminster  Abbey.  His  eu- 
logy was  a  masterly  analysis  of  the  character  of  his  late  chief. 
He  was  followed  by  Mr.  Disraeli,  who  added  another  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  the  popular  Minister. 

The  Irish  troubles  which  had  recently  arisen,  or  rather  grown 
from  their  normal  condition,  demand  some  share  of  attention. 
Those  who  had  emigrated  to  America  in  consequence  of  the  fam- 
ine of  1846-7,  and  some  who  had  been  banished  on  account  of  the 
part  which  they  had  taken  in  the  insurrection  of  the  followingyear, 
had  not  been  without  warm  affection  for  the  country  which  they 
had  thus  been  compelled  to  leave.  Theresult  had  been  an  organiza- 
tion which  originated  in  the  United  States — but  which  was  by  no 
means  confined  to  that  country — designed  to  establish  a  repub- 
lic in  Ireland.  The  cessation  of  the  Civil  War  had  given  the 
Fenians  a  considerable  accession  of  dangerous  assistants  by  re- 
leasing from  their  sworn  duty  to  the  United  States  or  the  Con- 
federate States  a  number  of  disciplined  veterans,  whose  experience 
enabled  them  to  train  others  for  military  service.  In  addition  to 
this,  certain  plans  had  been  formed  for  seducing  the  Irish  soldiers 
in  the  British  army  from  their  allegiance.  At  first  the  movement 
had  seemed  to  be  wildly  impracticable;  the  end  at  which  they 
were  aiming  seemed  as  little  possible  as  the  origin  which  they 
claimed,  from  some  forgotten  national  militia  of  Ireland,  four 
hundred  years  before  Christ.  But  the  British  Government  soon 
found  that  the  visionary  character  of  its  claims  and  its  hope? 
was  not  all  there  was  of  it.  Fenianism  was  a  real  danger  men- 
acing British  rule  in  Ireland;  the  greater,  perhaps,  because  the 
priests,  whose  counsels  had  generally  been  for  moderation  and 
patience,  were  carefully  excluded  from  the  control  of  this 


Representing  South  Lancashire.  239 

organization  and  from  knowledge  of  its  movements.  The  Gov- 
ernment was  driven  to  propose  a  bill  for  suspending  the  Habeas 
Corpus  Act  in  that  country.  This  measure  was  violently  oppos- 
ed by  Mr.  Bright,  who  seems  to  have  seen  something  of  the 
wrong  which  the  Fenians  were  striving  to  undo.  He  called  up- 
on the  "  two  great  and  trusted  leaders,"  Gladstone  and  Disraeli, 
to  throw  aside  all  animosity  for  the  time,  and  unite  in  some 
measure  which  would  bring  peace  to  Ireland.  The  cause  of  the 
discontent  should  be  found,  and  a  remedy  applied;  there  was  some 
way  to  make  Ireland  loyal,  and  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Imperial 
Parliament  to  find  that  way.  So  spoke  this  champion  of  the  peo- 
ple more  than  twenty  years  ago  ;  fighting  in  hate  of  a  wrong 
not  his  own. 

It  was  the  duty  of  the  Leader  of  the  House  to  defend  this 
Government  measure  against  the  voices  which  condemned  it; 
and  he  was  not  without  power  in  doing  so.  However  much  we 
may  admire  the  attitude  of  Bright,  who  would  thus  have  yield- 
ed the  rights  that  were  demanded,  or  at  least  a  portion  of  them 
we  must  recognize  the  wisdom  of  Gladstone  in  his  arguments 
against  this  course.  The  Irish  members  had  acquiesced  in  this 
bill,  and  they  were  the  legal  representatives  of  the  Irish  people. 
Much  of  Mr.  Bright's  speech,  he  said,  was  open  to  question,  and 
was  ill-timed  ;  it  was  the  duty  of  the  House  to  strengthen  the 
hands  of  the  Executive  in  the  preservation  of  law  and  order.  Mr. 
Gladstone  in  later  j-ears  showed  that  he  was  not  so  blindly  prej- 
udiced in  this  course  as  the  Fenians  would  have  had  us  believe  ; 
when  the  Irish  people  demanded  their  rights  in  moderation  and 
self-control,  he  urged  that  these  rights  be  granted;  but  it  will  be 
remembered  that  that  demand  had  not  then  been  made  by  the 
voice  of  their  representatives  in  Parliament.  "  The  mills  of  the 
gods  grind  slowly ;"  and  the  Fenians  were  premature  in  the  tur- 
bulent violence  of  their  efforts.  Ireland  will  some  day  be  free, 
as  her  sons,  from  Emmet  to  Parnell,  have  wished  to  see  her;  the 
day  will  sometime  dawn  when  every  nation  upon  earth  shall  have 
the  American  ideal  of  "  a  government  of  the  people,  for  the  peo- 
ple, and  by  the  people." 

The  Government  carried  out  other  vigorous  measures  for  the 
suppression  of  the  conspiracy,  such  as  the  suspension  of  the 
newspaper  which  was  the  chief  organ,  the  arrest  of  suspected 
persons,  the  order  of  additional  troops  to  Ireland;  soon  leaving 
only  those  embers  which  finally  kindled  the  fires  of  Parnellism. 


240  Representing  South  Lancashire. 

The  old  question  of  Church  Bates  came  up  again  this  session, 
and  Mr.  Gladstone  pressed  a  measure  providing  for  the  abolition 


Earl  Russell. 

of  compulsory  Church  Kates  j  but  the  question  was  left  in  the 
same  doubtful  position  which  it  hud  so  long  occupied. 

The  war  between  Austria  and  Prussia  brought  about  a  warm 


Representing  South  Lancashire.  241 

discussion  on  continental  affairs,  in  which  Mr.  Gladstone  warned 
the  Foreign  Secretary  that  the  cause  of  Italy  was  dear  to  the 
people  of  England,  who  would  not  readily  forgive  a  policy 
which  attacked  her  unity  and  independence.  It  may  here  be  re- 
marked that  Yenetia  was  added  to  Italy  by  the  treaty  which 
closed  this  war,  a  few  months  after  Mr.  Gladstone's  speech  on 
the  subject;  and  with  the  exception  of  the  States  of  the  Church, 
which  came  under  his  dominion  in  1870,  the  kingdom  of  Victor 
Emmanuel  was  the  same  as  that  over  which  Humbert  has  sway. 

The  decks  thus  cleared  for  action,  we  come  to  the  discussion 
of  the  all-important  measure  of  Parliamentary  Reform  Whc-i 
it  was  known  that  Earl  Eussell  had  succeeded  Viscount  Pal. 
merston  as  the  head  of  the  Government,  it  was  confidently  an- 
ticipated that  there  would  be  a  sweeping  change  in  the  mode  of 
representation;  that  the  franchise  would  be  considerably  ex- 
tended, in  accordance  with  the  veteran  reformer's  ideas  as  ex- 
pressed in  that  bill  which  his  late  chief  had  literally  "damned 
with  faint  praise."  The  measure  was  introduced  by  the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer  on  the  12th  of  March,  and  met  with  much 
opposition;  not  from  the  Conservatives  only,  from  whom  of 
course  it  was  to  be  expected,  but  from  many  Liberals  as  well.  It 
has  been  remarked  by  the  careful  historian  whom  we  have  quoted 
several  times  before  this,  that  it  was  scarcely  politic,  if  the  Min- 
istry had  looked  only  to  its  own  stability,  to  introduce,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  first  session  of  a  new  Parliament,  a  measure 
which  would  have  the  effect  of  renewing  the  risks  and  expense 
of  a  general  election.  If  Earl  Russell  and  Mr.  Gladstone  had 
been  content  to  wait  another  session  or  two  before  introducing 
the  Reform  Bill  they  would  have  addressed  themselves  to  mem- 
bers whose  recollection  of  the  election  was  less  vivid,  whose 
purses  would  have  in  some  degree  at  least  have  recovered  from 
the  enormous  drain  which  English  election  expenses  entail ;  and 
the  reception  of  the  bill  would  most  probably  have  been  more 
fortunate. 

But  Lord  Russell  had  long  been  an  enthusiast  upon  this  sub- 
ject. He  had  made  his  first  motion  in  favor  of  Parliamentary 
Reform  during  the  year  of  Queen  Victoria's  birth;  he  had  been 
one  of  the  four  members  of  the  Government  to  whom  Earl  Grey 
intrusted  the  task  of  framing  the  first  Reform  Bill,  which  passed 
in  1831 ;  and  he  had  proposed  that  famous  measure  to  the  House 
of  Commons.  He  was  then  verging  close  upon  forty;  more  than 

16 


242  Representing  South  Lancashire 

thirty  years  later,  his  ancient  ardor  had  not  diminished;  and  lie 
had  a  worthy  second  in  Mr.  Gladstone.  "  Too  fond  of  the  right 
to  pursue  the  expedient,"  they  considered  themselves  pledged  to 
the  people  ;  and  they  redeemed  that  pledge  at  the  earliest  pos- 
sible opportunity. 

The  House  was  crowded  in  every  part  as  it  had  been  when 
Lord  John  arose  to  introduce  the  first  measure  of  the  kind.  In  a 
speech  of  two  hours  Mr.  Gladstone  explained  the  provisions  of 
the  bill.  It  did  not  deal  with  the  question  of  redistribution  of 
seats,  but  simply  with  the  extension  of  the  Franchise;  nor  did 
Mr.  Gladstone  promise  that  the  important  omission  should  be 
dealt  with  during  the  next  session.  The  bill,  though  a  good  and 
honest  measure,  was  evidently  a  compromise;  for  that  scheme 
which  Lord  John  Eussell  had  introduced,  and  which  Mr.  Glad- 
stone had  so  warmly  supported  in  1860  had  advocated  the  re- 
duction of  the  franchise  in  the  towns  to  £6,  and  in  the  counties 
to  £10;  and  the  figures  in  this  bill  stood  at  £7  and  £14  re- 
spectively. 

As  we  have  said,  the  bill  met  with  uncompromising  opposition 
from  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Liberal  party.  Of  this  sec- 
tion, Mr.  Lowe  and  Mr.  Horsman  were  the  recognized  leaders. 
Mr.  Bright,  who  was  of  course  a  warm  supporter  of  the  measure, 
spoke  in  defense  of  it  with  all  that  keenness  which  so  often 
makes  his  speeches  unanswerable.  The  malcontent  "Whigs  were 
the  victims  of  his  sarcasm,  which  was  dealt  out  with  no  sparing 
hand: 

"  The  right  honorable  gentleman  [Mr.  Horsman]  is  the  first  of 
the  new  party  who  has  expressed  his  great  grief,  who  has  retired 
into  what  may  be  called  his  political  "Cave  of  Adullam,"  and  he 
has  called  about  him  every  one  that  was  in  distress  and  every 
one  that  was  discontented.  The  right  honorable  gentleman  has 
been  long  anxious  to  form  a  party  in  this  House.  There  is 
scarcely  any  one  on  this  side  of  the  House  who  is  able  to  address 
the  House  with  effect,  or  to  take  much  part  in  our  debates,  whom 
he  has  not  tried  to  bring  over  to  his  party  or  cabal;  and  at  last 
the  right  honorable  gentleman  has  succeeded  in  hooking  the 
right  honorable  gentleman  the  Member  for  Calne  [Mr.  Lowe]. 
I  know  there  was  an  opinion  expressed  many  years  ago  by  a 
member  of  the  Treasury  Bench  and  of  the  Cabinet,  that  two  men 
would  make  a  party.  When  a  party  is  formed  of  two  men  so 
amiable,  so  discreet,  as  the  two  right  honorable  gentlemen,  wo 


Representing  South  Lancashire. 


243 


may  hope  to  see,  for  the  first  time  in  Parliament,  a  party  per- 
fectly harmonious,  and  distinguished  by  mutual  and  unbroken 
trust.  But  there  is  one  difficulty  which  it  is  impossible  to  re- 
move. This  party  of  two  reminds  me  of  the  Scotch  terrier, 
which  was  so  covered  with  hair  that  you  could  not  tell  which 
was  the  head  and  which  was  the  tail  of  it." 

But  Mr.  Bright' s  contempt  for  the  weakness  of  this  party  of 
two  was  premature.  Since  the  days  when  David  retired  into  the 
Cave  of  Adullam,  and 
there  gathered  to  him 
every  one  that  was  in 
distress,  or  in  debt,  or 
discontented,  there  have 
always  been  found  fol- 
io wei's  for  such  com- 
plainers  against  the  ex- 
isting state  of  things. 
There  were  many  Adul- 
lamites,  as  the  Palmer- 
stonians,  or  anti-Reform 
Whigs,  began  to  be  call- 
ed; and  the  party  was 
not  without  its  influence. 

The  speeches  which 
were  delivered  against 
the  bill  by  the  members 
of  this  new  party  were 
of  such  a  nature  that 
the  Conservative  party 
took  fresh  courage.  Had  the  Liberals  remained  united,  there 
would  have  been  little  chance  for  the  Opposition,  so  con- 
siderable was  the  majority  which  had  been  returned  for  the 
Government  in  the  general  election.  The  Conservative  lead- 
ers summoned  a  meeting  of  their  supporters  for  the  purpose  of 
considering  the  manner  in  which  they  should  deal  with  the  min- 
isterial proposal.  Lord  Derby  was  absent  on  account  of  illness, 
so  that  Mr.  Disraeli  was  the  foremost  figure.  He  delivered  an 
address  which  aroused  the  enthusiasm  of  his  auditors,  and  it  was 
resolved  that  the  bill  should  be  strenuously  opposed.  Their 
hopes  were  no  longer  confined  to  mere  deiay,  or  some  slight  con- 
cessions which  might  be  wrung  from  the  Government ;  nothing 


St.  Hon.  Edward  Horsman. 


244  Representing  South  Lancashire. 

less  than  a  total  rout  of  the  ministerial  forces  would  satisfy 
them  ;  and  the  alliance  of  the  Adullatnites  would  enable  them  to 
achieve  this  victory. 

It  caused  no  small  dismay  in  the  Reform  camp  when  it  was 
known  that  Earl  Grosvenor,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Marquis  of 
Westminster,  had  gone  over  to  the  enemy;  for  they  had  confi- 
dently reckoned  upon  his  continued  support.  Upon  the  second 
reading  of  the  bill,  however,  he  proposed  a  resolution  affirming 
that  the  House  did  not  think  it  expedient  to  discuss  any  bill  for 
the  reduction  of  the  franchise  until  the  whole  plan  of  the  Gov- 
ernment should  have  been  laid  before  it. 

As  Mr.  Gladstone  had  already  stated  that  the  Government 
would  not  attempt  anything  that  session  beyond  the  extension 
of  the  franchise,  this  was  regarded  as  a  vote  of  no  confidence; 
and  coming  as  the  proposition  did  from  one  who  had  so  lately 
been  an  ally  upon  whom  they  could  always  depend,  the  effect 
was  peculiarly  discouraging  to  the  friends  of  Reform. 

This  opposition  was  natural  on  the  part  of  the  representatives 
of  small  boroughs,  who  were  anxious  that  their  constituents 
should  not  be  immediately  disfranchised;  there  are  few  men 
capable  of  the  serio-comic  self-sacrifice  of  that  Member  for  Lud- 
gershall  who  was  his  own  constituency,  as  we  have  mentioned  in 
our  chi'onicles  of  the  days  of  Earl  Grey's  Reform  Bill.  Others 
there  were  who  were  jealous  of  the  influence  which  Mr.  Bright 
and  his  adherents  were  supposed  to  have  exerted  over  the  Cab- 
inet, in  framing  this  bill.  Others  still  feared  that  if  the  exten- 
sion of  the  franchise  were  carried,  it  would  be  the  means  of  ob- 
taining a  much  larger  measure  of  redistribution  than  the  old 
Whig  party  was  willing  to  consent  to.  By  the  Conservatives  it 
was  regarded  as  a  dangerous  concession  to  democracy.  Such 
were  the  sentiments  of  the  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons ; 
but  the  bill  was  more  generally  approved  in  the  country. 

The  combination  between  the  Tories  and  the  Adullamites  was 
one  which  could  not  easily  be  defeated  without  making  conces- 
sions which,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Leader  of  the  House,  were  calcu- 
lated to  lower  the  dignity  of  the  Government;  and  Mr.  Glad- 
stone was  the  last  man  in  the  world  to  compromise  that  dignity, 
even  for  the  sake  of  avoiding  a  defeat.  At  the  same  time  it  was 
his  duty  to  avoid  that  contingency,  if  possible  to  do  so  by  means 
consistent  with  the  honor  of  the  Ministry.  He  therefore  gave  a 
abort  explanation  on  the  evening  before  the  House  adjourned  for 


Representing  South  Lancashire.  245 

the  Easter  holidays.  After  the  second  reading  of  the  franchise 
bill,  and  before  it  was  committed,  the  Government  would  state 
their  intentions  with  regard  to  the  franchise  of  Scotland  and 
Ireland  and  the  questions  connected  with  the  redistribution  of 
seats.  After  that  they  would  proceed  with  the  franchise  bill  un- 
til until  its  fate  was  determined.  But  the  motion  ot  Lord  Gros- 
venor  would  be  opposed  as  a  proposed  vote  of  want  of  confi- 
dence. 

During  the  Easter  holidays,  the  friends  of  the  Reform  Bill 
worked  hard.  Mr.  Bright  told  a  large  meeting  at  Birmingham 
that  their  representation  was  a  sham  and  a  farce,  and  that  if  they 
wanted  Eeform,  they  must  bring  a  strong  pressure  to  bear  upon 
Parliament  from  without.  Mr.  Gladstone  delivered  two  address- 
es upon  the  same  subject  at  Liverpool,  declaring  that  he  and  his 
colleagues  had  determined  to  stand  or  fall  by  their  franchise  bill; 
that  they  had  crossed  the  Rubicon,  whence  there  was  no  possi- 
bility of  retreat. 

When  the  second  reading  of  the  bill  came  up,  just  a  month  aC 
ter  it  had  been  introduced,  there  was  but  little  interest  in  the 
debate,  for  it  was  thought  that  argument  on  the  topic  had  been 
exhausted;  every  one  was  looking  anxiously  forward  to  the  di- 
vision. But  the  debate  dragged  on,  night  after  night.  It  was 
the  28th  of  April  before  the  division  was  reached.  The  number 
of  members  voting  was  perhaps  the  largest  proportion  of  the 
House  of  Commons  that  ever  expressed  an  opinion  in  that  way ; 
no  less  than  six-hundred  and  thirty-one  votes  were  cast;  so  that 
there  were  but  twenty-six,  besides  the  speaker,  who  did  not  vote. 
The  majority  in  favor  of  the  Government  was  five. 

When  the  result  of  the  division  was  announced,  the  excite- 
ment in  the  House  was  unparalleled  ;  it  broke  forth  in  shouts  of 
triumph,  not  from  the  Ministry  that  had  nominally  conquered, 
but  from  the  Adullamites  who  had  so  nearly  defeated  them.  In- 
deed, such  a  victory  was  worse  than  a  defeat;  for  while  it  did 
not  permit  the  Ministry  to  withdraw  the  bill,  it  gave  a  most  un- 
equivocal indication  that  it  would  meet  with  a  decisive  defeat  at 
the  next  stage.  The  only  alternatives  were  to  dissolve  or  re- 
sign. 

The  division  had  taken  place  Saturday  morning,  and  at  five 
o'clock  Monday  afternoon  Mr.  Gladstone  rose  to  announce  the 
programme  of  the  Ministers.  The  bill  was  to  be  proceeded  with; 
in  a  week's  time  leave  would  be  asked  to  introduce  the  bill  for 


246  Representing  South  Lancashire. 

the  redistribution  of  seats  ;  bills  for  Scotland  and  Ireland  were 
to  be  brought  in  on  the  same  evening,  and  would  be  proceeded 
with  at  the  same  time  as  the  franchise  bill.  The  House  received 
the  announcement  in  silence;  the  decisive  battle  was  yet  to  be 
fought. 

Mr.  Gladstone  further  announced,  on  the  evening  that  these 
bills  were  introduced,  that  the  Queen  would  not  be  advised  by 
the  Government  to  prorogue  Parliament  until  these  bills  should 
become  law.  The  franchise  and  redistribution  bills  were  finally 
combined,  and  submitted  to  one  committee.  The  question  was 
not  finally  decided  until  June  18th,  when,  on  an  amendment  pro- 
posed by  an  Adullamite,  the  House  divided,  and  gave  a  major- 
ity of  eleven  against  the  Ministers.  The  Opposition,  both  Tories 
and  Whigs,  received  the  announcement  with  deafening  cheers. 
The  Eussell  Government  was  to  stand  or  fall  by  its  Keform 
measure,  and  the  bill  had  failed. 

The  Queen  was  in  Scotland,  and  it  was  some  time  before  the 
suspense  of  the  House  was  relieved.  Would  the  Cabinet  resign, 
dissolve,  or  go  on  with  the  bill  ?  Eight  days  later  it  was  an- 
nounced that  they  had  determined  to  resign  j  and  that  her 
Majesty  had  finally  accepted  their  resignations,  though  not  with- 
out considerable  hesitation.  Mr.  Gladstone  thus  stated  the  rea- 
sons which  had  actuated  them  in  this  course  : 

"The  question  before  the  Government  was,  whether  they 
should  resign  their  offices  or  whether  they  should  accept  the  vote 
that  had  been  come  to,  and  endeavor  to  adapt  it  to  the  frame- 
work of  their  measure  of  Reform.  *  *  *  *  By  accepting  the  vote 
there  would  have  been  a  breaking-up  of  the  framework  of  the 
measure.  But  besides  this,  the  Government  had  to  consider  the 
previous  history  of  the  bill,  especially  with  reference  to  the 
pledges  given  from  time  to  time — advisedly  and  deliberately  giv- 
en— to  stand  or  fall  by  the  measure.  That  is  a  pledge  which 
should  rarely  be  given  by  a  government,  but  it  has  been  given 
by  this  Government  under  the  deepest  conviction  of  public  duty 
in  regard  to  dealing  with  the  question  of  Reform,  and  with  re- 
spect to  the  character  of  public  men  and  of  Parliament.  There- 
fore it  was  that  the  life  of  the  Administration  was  attached  to 
the  life  of  the  measure  they  proposed.  *****  Looking,  I  say, 
at  all  this,  the  Government  found  it  impossible  to  carry  on  the 
bill,  and  we  had  no  alternative  but  a  resignation,  and  a  persis- 
tence in  our  resignation." 


Representing  South  Lancashire.  247 

The  fact  that  the  measure  had  met  with  such  favor  in  the  coun- 
try suggests  that  the  Ministry  might  have  appealed  to  that  last  re- 
sort, and  thus  secured  the  victory;  but  there  were  many  "Whigs  in 
the  Cabinet,  who  were  by  no  means  friends  of  the  measure, 
though  they  could  not  openly  oppose  a  bill  introduced  by  their  col- 
leagues ;  they  were  not  willing,  however,  to  make  any  sacrifices 


Rt.  Hon.  Robert  Lowe. 

for  it,  nor  would  they  make  great  efforts  to  push  it  j  in  view  of 
this  disagreement,  such  a  course  would  have  been  impracticable. 

A  new  Ministry  was  formed,  with  the  Earl  of  Derby  at  the 
head,  and  Mr.  Disraeli  as  Chancellor  of  Exchequer  and  Leader 
of  the  House.  The  composition  of  the  new  Ministry  was  an- 
nounced on  the  9th  of  July. 

In  addressing  the  House  of  Lords  upon  the  policy  which  the 


248  Representing  Mouth  Lancashire. 

Government  would  pursue,  Lord  Derby  said  that  they  were  en- 
tirely unpledged  upon  the  subject  of  Reform;  and  that  they 
would  not  take  up  the  question  unless  there  was  a  fair  prospect 
of  carrying  it  through.  With  many  promises  of  needed  legisla- 
tion, he  addressed  himself  to  the  task  of  winding  up  the  business 
of  the  session  as  soon  as  possible;  but  this  was  not  accomplish- 
ed in  less  than  a  month. 

During  this  time,  when  the  question  of  Eeform  remained  in 
abeyance  in  Parliament,  it  was  eagerly  discussed  by  the  people. 
Several  associations  were  formed  for  the  purpose  of  giving  a 
plain  and  practical  contradiction  of  the  statement  that  the  peo- 
ple were  indifferent  to  it.  The  Reform  League  was  the  most  con- 
siderable of  these.  A  London  barrister,  Mr.  Beales,  was  its  pres- 
ident, and  it  owed  much  of  its  efficiency  to  his  energy  and  tal- 
ents. The  League  wished  to  hold  a  monster  mass-meeting,  and 
the  president  advised  them  that  this  might  be  done  without  in- 
fringement of  the  law.  The  place  was  fixed  for  Hyde  Park,  but 
the  police  forbade  this,  and  the  spectators,  guided  by  Beales, 
went  to  Trafalgar  Square,  where  the  meeting  was  held.  Resolu- 
tions in  favor  of  Reform,  and  votes  of  thanks  to  Messrs.  Glad- 
stone and  Bright  for  their  constancy  in  the  cause  which  so  many 
had  deserted,  were  carried  unanimously.  The  members  of  the 
league  and  their  friends  then  dispersed  quietly.  There  was  no 
disturbance;  though  a  number  of  roughs,  who  had  followed 
them  to  Hyde  Park  and  remained  there  when  the  League  with- 
drew to  Trafalgar  Square,  created  considerable  trouble,  which  was 
wrongly  laid  to  the  door  of  the  advocates  of  Reform.  But  this 
riotous  conduct  was  not  without  its  use;  the  Government  heard 
the  loud  voices  of  the  mob  calling  thus  tumultuously  more  clearly 
than  it  had  heard  the  voices  of  the  more  orderly  who  had  been 
beseeching  and  claiming  as  a  simple  right  the  extension  of  the 
franchise. 

The  Derby  Government  could  not  shirk  the  question  of  Re- 
form. They  must  go  on  with  it,  and  it  must  be  no  half  measure. 
But  they  left  it  in  suspense  almost  to  the  last  moment,  for  the 
Cabinet,  as  in  the  case  of  that  which  had  been  displaced,  was  di- 
vided upon  the  subject.  Finally,  however,  Lord  Derby  and  Mr, 
Disraeli  succeeded  in  persuading  their  colleagues  to  consent  to 
the  introduction  of  a  bill  upon  this  subject  in  the  session  of  1867. 

Mr.  Disraeli's  position  was  hardly  an  enviable  one,  unless  we 
consider  that  man  fortunate  whose  powers  are  displayed  by  the 


Representing  South  Lancashire. 

magnitude  of  the  obstacles  which  he  has  to  surmount.  He  was 
leader  of  a  party  that  had  all  along  dreaded  and  opposed  any  ex- 
tension of  the  suffrage,  being  regarded  with  jealousy  and  suspi- 
cion by  many  whose  support  was  necessary  to  the  success  of  his 
scheme.  Opposed  by  a  considerable  majority,  which,  although 
divided,  might  unite  at  any  time;  supported  by  a  party  that  fol- 
lowed him  with  undisguised  repugnance,  and  which,  to  borrow 
his  own  phrase,  required  to  be  educated  up  to  the  point  of  accept- 
ing such  a  measure  as  he  would  be  obliged,  by  the  pressure  from 
without,  to  propose;  and  hampered  by  the  declarations  which  he 
himself  had  made  regarding  the  numerous  Reform  Bills  which 
his  opponents  had  brought  forward  at  different  times — he  yetrose 
to  the  difficulty  of  his  task  with  consummate  ability.  There  were 
two  plans  possible:  one  a  mild  and  conservative  measure,  the 
other  a  bolder  one.  It  was  the  latter  which  was  finally  brought 
before  the  House. 

In  less  than  a  week  after  Parliament  assembled,  the  Leader  of 
the  House  explained  the  provisions  of  the  proposedbill.  He  gave 
notice  later  that  the  bill  would  be  introduced  March  18th.  Mr. 
Gladstone  spoke  in  answer  to  this  notice,  expressing  a  hope  that 
when  the  Reform  measure  appeared,  it  would  be  simple  and 
straightforward;  not  having  a  double  set  of  provisions,  one  of 
which  seemed  to  give,  while  the  other  really  took  away  liberty. 
If  the  plan  promised  to  effect  good  in  a  simple,  straightforward, 
intelligible  and  constitutional  manner,  it  would  be  received  on 
his  side  of  the  House  in  no  grudging  spirit,  with  no  recollection 
of  the  past,  and  no  revival  of  mutual  suspicions  and  complaints. 
It  would  have  been  well  if  the  Government  could  have  embraced 
these  generous  overtures;  but  there  was  a  considerable  section 
of  the  Conservative  party  who  wanted  no  Reform  at  all,  and  Mr. 
Disraeli  was  obliged  to  satisfy  them  as  well  as  those  who  were 
clamoring  loudly  for  the  changes. 

Three  of  the  Ministers  had  resigned  because  they  could  not 
give  their  assent  to  the  bill  approved  by  the  majority  of  their 
colleagues.  Instead  of  drawing  a  five,  six,  or  seven  pound  limit, 
to  cut  off  those  from  the  franchise  whose  extreme  poverty  would 
render  them  more  susceptible  to  bribes,  the  Government  boldly 
adopted  household  suffrage  with  the  simple  qualification  of  the 
payment  of  rates.  Mr.  Disraeli  calculated  that  this  would  en- 
franchise 237,000  additional  voters,  and  that  of  the  whole  num- 
ber of  those  who  would  have  a  voice  in  the  election  of  the 


250  Representing  South  Lancashire. 

House  of  Commons,  one-half  would  belong  to  the  middle  class 
and  one-fourth  each  to  the  higher  and  lower  classes.  Such  was  his 
much  talked  of  "  balance  of  power."  But  the  bill  did  not  give 
a  vote  to  those  householders  whose  rates  were  paid  by  their 
landlords;  so  that  although  the  bill  was  on  its  face  extremely 
generous,  it  was  not  really  as  much  so  as  that  which  Mr.  Glad- 
stone had  introduced. 

A  novel  feature  of  the  bill,  and  one  which  was  by  no  means 
approved  of,  was  that  provision  which  gave  a  man  two  votes  if 
he  paid  the  requisite  amount  of  assessed  taxes  or  income  tax, 
and  was  also  a  rate-paying  householder.  This  was  strongly  as- 
sailed by  speakers  on  both  sides  of  the  House,  among  the  most 
emphatic  of  whom  was  Mr.  Gladstone.  A  meeting  of  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  members  of  the  Liberal  party  was  held  at  Mr. 
Gladstone's  residence  early  in  April,  to  arrange  what  course  of 
action  should  be  taken  in  opposing  this  bill.  Some  difference  of 
opinion  was  expressed  as  to  what  should  bo  done,  but  it  was 
finally  understood  that  Mr.  Coleridge  was  to  introduce  a  resolu- 
tion affirming  that  the  committee  should  have  power  to  alter  the 
rating  and  make  other  changes  On  that  very  evening  a  meet- 
ing of  some  forty  or  fifty  members  was  held  in  the  tea-room  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  who  agreed  that  they  would  unite  to 
limit  the  instructions  to  be  proposed  by  Mr.  Coleridge.  They 
then  appointed  a  deputation  to  convey  to  Mr.  Gladstone  the  feel- 
ing of  the  meeting,  and  to  assure  him  that  the  members  compos- 
ing this  meeting  would  continue  to  give  him  a  loyal  support  in 
committee.  Mr.  Gladstone,  finding  that  by  the  defection  of  so 
many  of  his  adherents  he  was  almost  certain  to  incur  a  defeat, 
yielded  to  their  demands,  and  the  resolution  was  altered  accord- 
ingly. The  House  went  into  committee,  Mr.  Disraeli  having  ac- 
cepted the  altered  resolution.  Mr.  Gladstone  gave  notice  of  sev- 
eral important  amendments,  which  Mr.  Disraeli  stigmatized  as 
merely  the  resolutions  which  had  been  abandoned  by  the  tea- 
room party,  cast  into  another  form;  and  he  announced  that  if 
they  were  insisted  upon,  the  Government  would  not  proceed 
with  the  bill.  As  most  of  the  tea-room  party  held  together, 
the  Government  triumphed  by  a  majority  of  twenty-one  in  the  di- 
vision on  the  first  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  resolutions.  After  this,  ho 
could  not  hope  to  carry  any  of  the  others,  and  they  were  with- 
drawn. Nor  was  this  all;  he  determined  to  withdraw  from  the 
leadership  of  the  Liberal  Party.  He  announced  his  intention, 


Representing  South  Lancashire.  251 

And  explained  the  reasons  for  it,  in  a  letter  to  one  of  the  mem- 
bers for  the  City,  who  had  asked  him  if  he  intended  to  persevere 
in  moving  the  amendments  of  which  he  had  given  notice.  In 
this  letter  Mr.  Gladstone  clearly  expressed  his  intention  of  not 
taking  further  steps  to  combat  the  action  of  the  Government; 
though  he  promised  to  follow  any  one  who  would  undertake  the 
leadership  in  this  matter. 

His  action  was  sincerely  regretted  by  those  who  still  support- 
ed him,  though  they  saw  that  he  was  justified  in  the  course  which 
he  had  taken.  Mr.  Bright  took  the  opportunity  which  a  great 
Reform  demonstration  at  Birmingham  afforded,  to  denounce  the 
action  of  those  Liberals  who  had  thus  deserted  their  leader  at 
such  a  critical  time.  Eulogizing  Mr.  Gladstone  as  having  brought 
to  the  consideration  of  this  question  of  Reform  more  earnest- 
ness, conviction,  and  zeal  than  any  statesman  since  the  measure 
of  Earl  Grey  had  excited  all  England,  he  asked  :  "  Who  is  there 
in  the  House  of  Commons  that  equals  him  in  knowledge  of  all 
political  questions?  Who  equals  him  in  earnestness?  Who  equals 
him  in  eloquence?  Who  equals  him  in  courage  and  fidelity  to 
his  convictions?  If  these  gentlemen  who  say  they  will  not  fol- 
low him  have  any  one  who  is  equal,  let  them  show  him.  If  they 
can  point  out  any  statesman  who  can  add  dignity  and  grandeur 
to  the  stature  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  let  them  produce  him.  It  is  a 
deplorable  thing  that  last  year  a  small  section  of  forty  men,  or 
thereabouts,  of  professing  Liberals,  destroyed  the  honest  and  ac- 
ceptable (I  speak  of  the  people)  bill  of  the  late  Government,  and 
with  it  destroyed  also  the  Government  which  proposed  it.  About 
an  equal  number  have  this  year  to  a  great  extent  destroyed  the 
power  of  the  Opposition,  and  may  assist  an  anti-Reforming  Gov- 
ernment to  pass  a  very  bad  measure  on  the  greatest  question  of 
our  time.  *****  What  can  be  done  in  parliamentary  parties 
if  every  man  is  to  pursue  his  own  little  game  ?  A  costermonger 
and  donkey  would  take  a  week  to  travel  from  here  to  London  ; 
and  yet,  by  running  athwart  the  London  and  Northwestern  line, 
they  might  bring  to  total  destruction  a  great  express  train  ;  and 
so  very  small  men,  who  during  their  whole  political  lives  have 
not  advanced  the  question  of  Reform  by  one  hair's  breadth  or 
one  moment  of  time,  can  in  a  critical  hour  like  this  throw  them- 
selves athwart  the  objects  of  a  great  party,  and  perhaps  mar  a 
great  measure  that  sought  to  affect  the  interests  of  the  country 
beneficially  for  all  time." 


252  Representing  South  Lancashire. 

The  plain  truth  and  justice  of  Mr.  Bright's  speech  carried  with 
his  censures  weight  that  made  them  to  be  felt  by  men,  who,  pro- 
fessing to  desire  a  real  extension  of  the  franchise,  were  yet 
adopting  a  course  which  was  nullifying  that  object,  and  were 
placing  at  the  disposal  of  the  minority  a  power  which  ought  to 
be  exercised  by  the  majority. 

The  bill  made  no  provisions  for  granting  the  franchise  to  lodg- 
ers, but  this  was  conceded  as  time  went  on.  Other  modifications 
were  made  both  in  the  franchise  and  in  the  re-distribution  of 
seats;  and  the  Government  announced  that  from  this  position 
they  would  not  recede  further.  Yarious  amendments  were  pro- 
posed, but  the  House  was  only  too  anxious  to  have  the  question 
settled,  and  these  were  rejected,  though  by  very  small  majorities. 
Some  other  concessions  were  wrung  from  the  Ministry,  notwith- 
standing Mr.  Disraeli's  positive  statement;  so  that  one  of  those 
ministers  who  had  resigned  office  because  he  could  not  support 
this  bill,  observed  that  it  seemed  there  was  nothing  with  less  vi- 
tality than  a  vital  point,  nothing  so  insecure  as  the  securities 
which  the  bill  offered,  and  nothing  so  elastic  as  the  conscience  of 
a  Cabinet  Minister.  Certainly  he  had  caus,e  for  these  biting  re- 
monstrances, for  the  Conservative  Ministry  had  so  modified  this 
measure  that  it  was  one  which  might  have  been  introduced  by 
Mr.  Bright  himself,  and  far  surpassed  the  expectations  even  of 
the  Reform  League. 

The  later  clauses  of  the  bill  were  hurried  along,  for  it  was  the 
latter  part  of  July;  amendments  were  negatived  after  very 
slight  consideration  ;  and  the  bill  at  last  came  up  for  the  third 
reading. 

The  caustic  severity  of  the  language  which  was  used  in  de-- 
scribing Mr.  Disraeli's  course  in  this  matter  has  scarcely  been 
equalled  in  Parliament.  It  recalled  to  the  minds  of  the  elder 
members  his  own  attack  upon  Sir  Robert  Peel.  Mr.  Disraeli, 
however,  was  not  without  weapons  to  repel  such  an  attack;  and 
answered  by  reviewing  the  action  of  the  Palmerston  Govern- 
ment, which  had  come  into  existence  because  the  Derby  Cabinet 
could  not  or  would  not  grant  Reform,  and  shirked  the  responsi- 
bility for  which  they  had  been  appointed.  The  bill  was  read  a 
third  time,  a  single  dissenting  voice  being  heard  when  the  Speak- 
er put  the  question;  and  when  the  motion  was  made,  "that  the 
bill  do  pass,"  the  announcement  of  the  vote  was  received  with 
more  than  usually  tumultuous  cheering. 


Representing  South  Lancashire.  253 

The  Reform  Bill  passed  the  House  of  Lords  in  August, and  be- 
came law  shortly  afterward.  Mr.  Disraeli  gave  not  a  little  of- 
fence to  his  adherents  by  the  language  which  he  shortly  after- 
ward used  in  speaking  of  it.  "I  had  to  prepare  the  mind  of  the 
country,"  he  said,  at  a  Conservative  banquet  in  Edinburgh,  "and 
to  educate — if  it  be  not  arrogant  to  use  such  a  phrase — to  educate 
our  part}7."  There  was  much  comment  upon  the  expression, 
and  the  newspapers  continued  to  quote  it  for  a  long  time. 

The  author  of  this  much  amended  Reform  Bill  was  shortly  to 
be  called  to  occupy  a  higher  position  than  his  talents  had  yet 
won  for  him.  The  Earl  of  Derby  had  been  in  ill-health  for  a 
long  time,  frequently  being  unable  to  attend  t!>c  sessions  of  the 
House  of  Lords;  at  other  times  he  forced  himself  to  bo  pres- 
ent when  he  was  manifestly  unfitted  lor  the  exertion.  He  re- 
tired in  February,  18G8,  and  Mr.  Disraeli  became  Prime  Minister. 
Of  this  elevation,  the  newspapers  had  much  to  say;  and  what 
they  said  was  not  always  exactly  complimentary  to  the  brilliant 
novelist-politician.  While  not  as  violently  worded  as  some  of 
the  attacks  which  the  press  of  this  country  sometimes  makes  up- 
on high  officials,  from  the  President  down — for  they  would  notbe 
guilty  of  formal  disrespect  to  the  the  First  Ministerof  the  Crown 
— there  was  yet  a  mingling  of  unanswerable  raillery  and  sar- 
casm. Perhaps  an  extract  from  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  will  be  the 
best  example  : 

"  One  of  the  most  grievous  and  constant  puzzles  of  King 
David  was  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked  and  scornful ;  and  the 
same  tremendous  moral  enigma  has  come  down  to  our  own  days. 
In  this  respect  the  earth  is  in  its  older  times  what  it  was  in  its 
youth.  Even  so  recently  as  last  week  the  riddle  presented  itself 
once  more  in  its  most  impressive  shape.  Like  the  Psalmist,  the 
Liberal  leader  may  well  protest  that,  '  verily,  he  has  cleansed 
his  heart  in  vain  and  washed  his  hands  in  innocencyj  all  day 
long  he  has  been  plagued  by'  Whig  Lords,  'and  chastened  every 
morning  by'  Radical  manufacturers;  as  blamelessly  as  any  cur- 
ate he  has  written  about  Ecce  Homo,  and  he  has  never  made  a 
speech,  even  in  the  smallest  country  town,  without  calling  out 
with  David,  'How  foolish  am  I,  and  how  ignorant!'  For  all 
this,  what  does  he  see?  The  scorner  who  shot  out  the  lip  and 
shook  the  head  at  him  across  the  table  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons last  session,  has  now  more  than  heart  could  wish  ;  his  eyes, 
speaking  in  an  Oriental  manner,  stand  out  with  fatness,  he  speak- 


254  Representing  South  Lancashire. 

eth  loftily,  and  pride  compasseth  him  about  as  with  a  chain.  *  * 
*  *  That  the  writer  of  frivolous  stories  about  Vivian  Grey  and 
Coningsby  should  grasp  the  sceptre  before  the  writer  of  beauti- 
ful and  serious  things  about  Ecce  Homo — the  man  who  is  epigram- 
matic, flashy,  arrogant,  before  the  man  who  never  perpetrated  an 
epigram  in  his  life,  is  always  fervid,  and  would  as  soon  die  as 
admit  that  he  had  a  shade  more  brain  than  his  footman — the 
Radical  corrupted  into  a  Tory,  before  the  Tory  purified  and  ele- 
vated into  a  Radical — is  not  this  enough  to  make  an  honest  man 
rend  his  mantle,  and  shave  his  head,  and  sit  down  among  the  ashes 
inconsolable?  Let  us  play  the  too  underrated  part  of  Bildad 
the  Shuhite  for  a  space,  while  our  chiefs  have  thus  unwelcome  leis- 
ure to  scrape  themselves  with  potsherds,  and  to  meditate  upon 
the  evil  ways  of  the  world." 

Beneath  the  scoffing  and  pretended  condolence  of  this  para- 
graph, there  is  no  small  vein  of  truth.  The  characters  of  the  two 
men  are  not  inaptly  drawn  ;  for  although  it  is  a  palpable  exag- 
geration to  say  that  Mr.  Gladstone  would  "as  soon  die  as  admit 
that  he  had  any  more  brains  than  his  footman,"  he  is  not  keenly 
self-appreciative;  and  the  quality  thus  lacking  in  his  mental 
composition  was  possessed  in  double  share  by  the  most  eminent 
of  his  rivals. 

Parliament  had  been  summoned  in  November,  1867,  to  consid- 
er the  Abyssinian  War.  This  was  undertaken  for  the  deliver- 
ence  of  certain  British  subjects  who  were  held  captive  by  King 
Theodore.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  among  those  who  spoke  on  the 
subject.  There  had  been  certain  statements  made  by  Mr.  Dis- 
raeli during  the  recess,  regarding  Parliamentary  matters,  which 
he,  as  Leader  of  the  Opposition,  was  fully  justified  in  asking  an 
explanation  for;  but  the  illness  of  Mrs.  Disraeli  had  at  this  time 
assumed  such  a  form  that  she  was  in  a  precarious  condition  ;  and 
the  brilliant  novelist  was  as  deeply  attached  to  his  wife  as  he 
was  indebted  to  her.  Prefacing  his  speech,  therefore,  with  the 
statement  that  he  would  refrain  from  asking  for  any  explana- 
tions, and  by  an  expression  of  his  sympathy  with  Mr.  Disraeli 
in  his  domestic  affliction,  Mr.  Gladstone  pointed  out  that  while 
there  was  a  clear  casus  belli,  it  was  not  at  all  clear  that  there 
would  be  much  gained  by  a  war;  the  Ministry  would  have  to 
convince  the  House  that  the  objects  of  the  expedition  were  ob- 
tainable, and  show  both  how  it  was  proposed  to  carry  on  the  ex- 
pedition, and  what  would  be  its  limits.  He  pressed  for  a  settle- 


Representing  South  .Lancashire.  255 

raent  of  the  troubles  in  Ireland,  where  the  Fenian  outbreak  was 
at  its  height.  He  trusted  that  the  rumor  was  incorrect  which 
assigned  to  the  Irish  Church  Commission  the  function  of  draw- 
ing up  plans  for  its  reorganization.  Mr.  Disraeli  was  unusually 
moved  when  he  rose  to  reply,  thanking  Mr.  Gladstone  for  the 
expression  of  sympathy,  and  the  House  for  the  manner  in  which 
it  had  been  received.  His  speech  did  not  promise  much  defin- 
itely. The  Government  hoped  to  accomplish  all  that  was  de- 
manded of  them;  they  were  still  unpledged  to  the  Abyssinian 
Expedition;  they  would  introduce  a  bill  dealing  with  the  Irish 
troubles;  and  were  giving  their  earnest  attention  to  Church  mat- 
ters. The  House  a  few  days  later  voted  a  sufficient  sum  to  carry 
on  the  African  war,  and,  agreeably  to  the  plan  for  which  Mr. 
Gladstone  hud  on  this  occasion  as  en  others  so  warmly  pleaded, 
imposed  an  additional  tax  to  meet  the  expense  without  adding 
to  the  debt.  The  House  adjourned  about  the  middle  of  Decem- 
ber, the  objects  of  this  special  session  having  been  accomplished. 

Reform  Bills  relating  to  Scotland  and  Ireland  wore  carried  dur- 
ing the  session  of  1868,  and  the  work  for  which  Earl  Eussell  had 
so  long  hoped  was  thus  accomplished  by  his  political  opponents, 
who  had  opposed  nothing  so  vehemently  and  persistently. 

A  question  which  had  long  occupied  the  attention  of  Parlia- 
ment was  definitely  settled  this  session,  chiefly  by  the  efforts  of 
Mr.  Gladstone.  The  measure,  which  was  the  Compulsory 
Church  Eatcs  Abolition  Bill,  passed  both  houses,  though  not 
without  some  opposition  from  the  Conservatives.  It  provided 
that  there  should  be  no  legal  proceedings  for  the  collection  of 
Church  Eates,  unless  money  had  been  borrowed  on  them  as  se- 
curity ;  but  voluntary  agreements  might  be  made,  and  the  money 
so  promised  might  be  collected  in  the  same  way  that  any  other 
contracts  might  be  enforced.  While  this  bill  was  looked  upon  as 
a  Eadical  measure,  it  is  not  clear  that  it  really  made  much  change 
in  the  real  state  of  affairs.  Parliament  simply  agreed  that  the 
Church  would  waive  the  right  which  she  had  asserted,  in  case 
she  could  not  secure  the  recognition  of  that  right  from  those 
who  supported  other  places  of  worship. 

The  Irish  Church  had  long  been  a  subject  which  had  perplexed 
the  legislators  of  the  Empire.  If  the  Dissenters  in  England  had 
been  strong  enough  to  compel  that  act  of  justice  which  has  just 
been  chronicled,  the  Non-conformists  of  Ireland  were  strong 
enough  numerically  to  have  done  much  more,  had  all  other 


230 


Representing  South  Lancashire. 


been  equal.     But  the  mere  assertion  of  a  right  by  an  Irish- 
man seems  always  to  have  been  enough  to  arouse  the  opposition 


7/OTi.  Charles  Stewart  Parnett. 


of  Englishmen.  A  nation  which  prides  itself  upon  its  sense  of  jus- 
tice, its  regard  for  the  rights  of  man,  its  love  of  liberty,  has 
never  hesitated  to  grind  a  subject  nation  to  the  dust.  The  Irish 


Representing  South  Lancashire.  257 

Church  was  exotic,  and  only  the  care  which  was  given  it  by  Par- 
liament enabled  it  to  stand  the  cold  regard  of  the  people  of  the 
country.  As  long  ago  as  1835,  in  that  pamphlet  which  won 
his  baronetcy  for  him,  Bulwer-Lytton  had  said  that  the  words 
"Irish  Church"  were  the  greatest  bull  in  the  language;  that  it 
was  called  the  Church  of  Ireland  because  it  was  not  the  Church 
of  the  Irish.  We  have  had  occasion  before  this  to  speak  of  the 
difficulty  which  was  experienced  in  collecting  tithes  ;  that  diffi- 
culty had  not  diminished  in  the  least.  To  mend  the  matter  for  the 
incumbents,  who  were  thus  unable  to  collect  their  incomes,  the 
Government  had  formulated  a  scheme  by  which  the  Church 
would  be  less  embarrassed  ;  this  was  the  plan  of  charging  the 
landlord  with  the  tithes,  and  allowing  him  to  add  a  correspond- 
ing sum  to  the  rent  which  had  before  been  exacted.  A  refractory 
Irishman,  who  paid  a  hundred  pounds  ayear  for  his  holding,  thus 
had  his  rent  raised  to  one  hundred  and  ten  pounds,  in  order  that 
a  church  for  which  he  had  no  regard  might  be  enabled  to  support 
her  ministers.  This  was  the  chief  change  that  had  been  made  in 
the  government  of  the  Irish  Church  since  the  days  of  O'Connell, 
and  it  was  one  that  bore  heavily  upon  an  already  over-burdened 
people. 

On  the  16th  of  March,  1868,  Mr.  Maguire  having  moved  that 
the  House  resolve  itself  into  a  committee  of  the  whole  to  con- 
sider the  Irish  question,  Mr.  Gladstone  struck  the  first  blow  in 
the  fight  which  was  to  end  in  the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish 
Church.  After  speaking  feelingly  of  the  wrongs  which  the  Irish 
had  endured  at  the  hands  of  the  English  for  centuries,  he  said 
that  there  must  be  religious  equality  established;  but  that  the 
principle  of  leveling  up  was  a  most  pernicious  error.  The  Irish 
people  had  repeatedly  been  urged  to  loyalty  and  to  union;  that 
was  what  he  would  advocate,  too  ;  but  it  was  idle,  it  was  mock- 
ery to  use  the  words  without  giving  them  some  substantial  mean- 
ing by  action.  It  is  unnecessary  to  quote  his  pleadings  for  a  meas- 
ure which  has  long  since  become  law  ;  but  his  conclusion  is  perti- 
nent to  the  present,  and  will  be  so  until  Ireland  is  free: 

"If  we  are  prudent  men,  I  hope  we  shall  endeavor,  as  far  as  in 
us  lies,  to  make  some  provision  for  a  contingent,  a  doubtful,  and 
probably  a  dangerous  future.  If  we  be  chivalrous  men,  I  trust 
we  shall  endeavor  to  wipe  away  those  stains  which  the  civilized 
world  for  ages  has  seen,  or  seemed  to  see,  on  the  shield  of  Eng- 
land in  her  treatment  of  Ireland.  If  we  be  compassionate  men, 

'7 


258  Representing  South  Lancashire. 

I  hope  that  we  shall  now,  once  for  all,  listen  to  the  tale  of  woe 
which  comes  from  her,  and  the  reality  of  which,  if  not  its  jus- 
tice, is  testified  to  by  the  continuous  emigration  of  her  people; 
that  we  shall  endeavor  to 

'  Eaze  out  the  written  troubles  from  her  brain, 
Pluck  from  her  memory  the  rooted  sorrow.' 

But,  above  all,  if  we  be  just  men,  we  shall  go  forward  in  the 
name  of  truth  and  right,  bearing  this  in  mind  ;  that  when  the  case 
is  proved,  and  the  hour  is  come,  justice  delayed  is  justice  denied." 

This  eloquent  appeal  carried  consternation  into  the  camp  of 
the  enemy.  Mr.  Disraeli  bewailed  his  own  misfortune  in  being 
confronted  with  this  ancient  problem  at  the  very  outset  of 
his  career  as  Premier;  the  same  state  of  affairs  had  existed 
while  the  Palmerston  and  Russell  Governments  were  in  power, 
to  both  of  which  Mr.  Gladstone  had  belonged,  and  no  attempt 
had  been  made  to  deal  with  it.  He  strongly  objected  to  the  de- 
struction of  the  Irish  Church,  being  personally  in  favor  of  eccles- 
iastical endowments.  At  Mr.  Gladstone's  request  Mr.  Maguire 
withdrew  his  motion. 

But  the  spectre  had  been  raised,  and  could  not  be  laid.  The 
Irish  Church  question  had  moved  forward  an  enormous  stride 
when  Mr.  Gladstone  had  made  that  appeal,  and  it  was  impossible 
to  go  back,  or  even  to  stand  still.  The  country  speedily  took  up 
the  cry  of  disestablishment,  and  it  became  the  one  aim  of  the 
Liberal  party  of  the  time.  Mr.  Gladstone  himself  did  not  recede 
from  the  advanced  position  which  he  had  taken,  but  laid  upon 
the  table  of  the  House  of  Commons  a  series  of  resolutions, 
which  he  intended  to  move  in  committee  of  the  whole,  affirming 
that  it  was  necessary  that  the  Established  Church  of  Ireland 
should  cease  to  exist  as  an  establishment,  due  regard  being  had 
to  all  personal  rights  and  individual  interests  j  and  that  an  ad- 
dress should  be  presented  to  Her  Majesty,  praying  that  her  inter- 
erest  in  the  temporalities,  dignities,  and  benefices  in  Ireland  be 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  Parliament.  To  these  resolutions  Lord 
Stanley,  a  few  days  later,  gave  notice  of  an  amendment  to  the 
effect  that  the  whole  subject  might  well  be  left  to  the  considera- 
tion of  a  new  Parliament. 

March  30th,  Mr.  Gladstone  delivered  his  famous  speech  in  con- 
nection with  these  resolutions.  Having  given  assurance  that  his 
measure  did  not  contemplate  the  violation  of  any  vested  right  or 
interest,  but  would  endeavor  to  work  this  great  reform  without 


Representing  South  Lancashire.  259 

injustice  to  any  one,  he  proceeded  briefly  to  recapitulate  his  per- 
sonal history  in  connection  with  the  subject.  We  need  scarcely 
remind  the  reader  what  changes  his  opinions  had  undergone; 
those  who  are  so  interested  in  the  subject  as  to  desire  a  detailed 
account,  may  be  referred  to  the  pages  of  Hansard,  or  the  pub- 
lished speeches  of  the  great  Liberal,  or  to  that  resume  of  his  own 
which  we  have  before  had  occasion  to  quote,  "A  Chapter  of  Auto- 
biography." 

The  speaker  showed  the  futility  of  the  attempt  to  Protestant- 
ize Ireland  by  the  maintenance  of  the  Establishment;  though 
the  census  of  1861  showed  a  small  proportionate  increase,  the 
rate  was  so  small  that  it  would  take  1500  or  2000  years  to  ef- 
fect the  inversion  of  the  entire  people.  He  recognized  that 
many  felt  that  it  was  an  unhallowed  act  to  disestablish  a  Church, 
and  while  he  fully  understood  the  feeling,  he  thought  it  an  error, 
which  it  was  his  duty  to  overcome  and  repress.  Throughout  the 
tvhole  speech  there  ran  a  tone  of  deepest  sympathy  with  those 
earnest  thinkers  who  looked  upon  this  measure  as  almost,  if  not 
quite,  an  act  of  sacrilege ;  a  sympathy  the  more  profound  be- 
cause the  speaker  had  himself  passed  through  that  stage  of 
thinking;  he  had  held  the  faith  which  they  now  held  ;  but  hav- 
ing grown  out  of  it,  ho  called  to  them  to  rise  to  the  level  which 
he  had  reached.  That  journal  which  had  called  him  a  Tory  ele- 
vated and  purified  into  a  Radical,  might  well  now  have  styled 
him  a  Churchman  purified  arid  elevated  into  a  Christian. 

Lord  Stanley  justified  his  amendment  upon  the  ground  that 
Mr.  Gladstone's  resolutions  merely  affirmed  the  necessity  for  ac- 
tion, without  specifying  what  should  be  done.  Lord  Cranborne, 
on  the  other  hand,  condemned  the  amendment  as  ambiguous;  it 
left  all  to  the  future  policy  of  the  Government,  which  ho  would 
as  soon  undertake  to  predict  as  to  tell  the  House  which  way  the 
weather-cock  would  point  to-morrow.  This  fling  at  the  Premier's 
inconsistency  was  followed  by  a  thoroughly  Conservative  speech 
by  Mr.  Gathorne  Hardy,  who  it  will  be  remembered  was  that 
successor  of  Mr.  Gladstone  as  the  representative  of  Oxford 
who  was  not  regarded  as  dangerous  on  account  of  any  phenom- 
enal ability.  Mr.  Bright,  of  course,  justified  disestablishment, 
on  the  ground  that  the  Irish  Church  had  been,  both  as  a  political 
institution  and  a  missionary  church,  a  most  deplorable  failure. 
The  Conservative  party  had  resisted  Free  Trade,  Reform  and 
other  measures,  and  this  was  not  more  serious  than  they  had  been. 


260  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

Mr.  Lowe  spoke  forcibly  in  favor  of  disestablishment,  arguing 
that  the  Irish  Church  was  founded  upon  an  injustice,  on  the  dom- 
inant right  of  the  few  over  the  many ;  as  a  missionary  work,  it 
was  a  miserable  failure;  and,  like  Mr.  Bright,  he  showed  how 
disproportionate  to  the  effort  in  this  direction  had  been  the  result, 
a  fact  that  must  be  universally  conceded. 


Hon.  Oathome  Ifardy. 

To  all  these  Mr.  Disraeli  answered  in  a  speech  which  even  for 
him  was  of  an  unusually  personal  character.  Lord  Salisbury,  he 
said,  was  a  man  of  great  talent,  and  had  vigor  in  his  language. 
As  soon  as  the  noble  lord  heard  the  amendment,  he  concluded 
that  the  Government  was  about  to  betray  its  trust.  Mr.  Lowe 
suffered  more  severely  at  his  hands.  There  was  nothing  that  he 
liked,  and  almost  everything  that  he  hated.  Mr.  Disraeli  then 
stated,  with  that  coolness  which  distinguished  him  upon  such 


Representing  South  Lancashire.  261 

occasions,  that  he  had  never  attacked  any  one  in  his  life.  He 
was  interrupted  by  loud  cries,  in  which  the  name  of  Peel  was  plain- 
ly heard ;  and  these  became  so  numerous  that  he  adroitly  added 
the  proviso,  "  unless  I  was  first  attacked."  But  even  this  prudent 
addition  did  not  hush  the  cries.  He  talked  of  having  fathomed 
a  conspiracy  between  Ritualism  and  Popery  to  overthrow  the 
throne  j  and  declared  that  as  long  as,  by  the  favor  of  the  Queen, 
he  stood  there,  he  would  oppose  this  nefarious  effort  of  Mr. 
Gladstone  and  his  friends. 

Mr.  Gladstone  retorted  that  there  were  some  parts  of  the 
Prime  Minister's  speech  the  relevancy  of  which  he  could  not 
discern  j  while  others  were  due  to  a  heated  imagination.  For 
himself,  he  did  not  wish  to  deny  that  he  advocated  the  disestab- 
lishment of  the  Irish  Church  ;  and  he  demanded  that  this  Par- 
liament should  at  least  prepare  the  way  for  that  necessary  meas- 
ure. 

The  debate  had  lasted  four  nights  before  divisions  were  taken. 
In  the  two  which  were  taken  at  the  close  of  the  discussion,  the 
Government  was  defeated  by  majorities  of  fifty-six  and  sixty. 

The  Liberals  had  not  dared  to  hope  for  such  a  decisive  major- 
ity. The  party  was  now  united  as  it  had  not  been  for  a  long 
time,  and  the  popular  feeling  was  largely  with  them  in  this  ques- 
tion. But  the  Conservatives  were  not  willing  to  allow  that  they 
were  wholly  beaten,  especially  in  the  opinion  of  the  people.  If 
a  Liberal  meeting  were  held,  a  Conservative  followed.  Various 
means,  not  always  fair  ones,  were  resorted  to,  to  prove  the  Op- 
position in  the  wrong.  Serious  charges  were  circulated  against 
the  leader  of  the  Liberal  party.  When  he  was  at  Rome,  he  had 
made  arrangements  with  the  Pope,  being  a  Catholic  at  heart,  to 
destroy  the  Established  Church  of  Ireland  ;  he  had  publicly  con- 
demned the  support  of  the  clergy  in  the  three  kingdoms  out  of 
public  or  Church  funds  j  he  had,  when  at  Balmoral,  refused  to  at- 
tend the  Queen  to  church;  he  had  received  the  thanks  of  the 
Pope  for  his  course  with  regard  to  the  Irish  Church  j  and  he  was 
a  member  of  a  High-Church  Ritualistic  congregation.  "  These 
statements,  one  and  all,"  wrote  Mr.  Gladstone,  when  they  were 
brought  to  his  knowledge,  "are  untrue  in  letter  and  in  spirit, 
from  beginning  to  end." 

Mr.  Gladstone's  resolutions  were  stigmatized  as  unconstitution- 
al by  Lord  Derby,  who  spoke  in  the  House  of  Lords  while  the 
measures  were  yet  sending  in  the  Commons.  When  the  debate 


262  Representing  South  Lancashire. 

was  summed  up,  on  the  night  when  the  first  resolution  was  car- 
ried, Mr.  Gladstone  repelled  this  charge,  and  declared  that  he 
would  not  take  the  word  of  command  from  the  Houso  of  Lords. 
Urging  the  resolution  as  a  part  of  a  policy  which  would  add  to 
the  glory  and  strength  of  the  Empire,  he  gave  place  to  his  rival, 
who  merely  reiterated  his  objections  to  disestablishment.  The 
division  followed  the  speeches  of  the  two  leaders,  and  the  Op- 
position found  that  they  had  a  majority  of  sixty-five. 

The  decrease  of  the  Government's  strength  was  unmistakable, 
and  Mr.  Disraeli  waited  upon  the  Queen.  The  proper  constitu- 
tional course,  he  told  her,  was  to  dissolve  Parliament  and  appeal 
to  the  country,  though  at  the  same  time  he  offered  the  resigna- 
nation  of  the  Ministry ;  but  if  the  House  would  co-operate  with 
the  Government,  he  thought  it  would  be  better  to  delay  dissolu- 
tion until  the  Autumn. 

But  this  was  by  no  means  what  the  Liberals  wanted  and  had 
worked  for.  Mr.  Gladstone,  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Lowe  protest- 
ed against  this  failure  to  dissolve  at  once  under  such  circum- 
stances as  unconstitutional ;  but  the  Premier  had  laid  his  plans 
cunningly.  To  dissolve  at  once  was  to  appeal  to  the  existing 
constituencies;  there  must  be  an  appeal  very  shortly  to  the  con- 
stituencies established  by  the  Reform  Bill  of  the  previous  year, 
so  that  the  new  Parliament  would  sit  for  only  a  single  very  short 
session.  Under  such  circumstances,  the  desired  delay  was  grant- 
ed j  and  the  Ministers  having  agreed  to  confine  themselves  tc 
such  business  as  was  absolutely  necessary,  the  Opposition  yield- 
ed the  point. 

The  remaining  resolutions  which  Mr.  Gladstone  had  intro- 
troduced  were  put  and  carried  without  serious  opposition.  The 
Ministers  negatived  them  as  a  matter  of  course,  as  they  were  but 
corollaries  of  the  first;  but  there  was  no  division.  Then  arose 
such  a  scene  as  the  House  of  Commons  has  seldom  beheld.  A 
Scotch  member,  a  Liberal,  elated  with  the  victory  which  had  al- 
ready been  gained,  and  thinking  that  matters  might  as  well  be 
pushed  to  the  utmost,  moved  the  abolition  of  the  Maynooth 
grant  and  the  regium  donum  (separate  annual  grants  of  public 
money  by  the  Government  to  the  Catholics  and  Presbyterian 
clergy  in  Ireland).  This  was  more  than  Mr.  Gladstone  and  his 
immediate  adherents  had  bargained  for,  and  the  Liberals 
were  at  once  re-divided  among  themselves.  The  Ministers 
walked  out  of  the  House,  leaving  the  Opposition  to  fight  out 


Representing  South  Lancashire.  263 

their  civil  war  in  their  own  way.  The  uproar  was  at  its  height. 
Bellowing,  screeching,  cheering,  yelling,  echoed  and  re-echoed 
in  that  hall  which  should  have  been  the  scene  of  dignified  delib- 
eration. Everywhere  there  was  extravagant  gesticulation  from 
members  who  had  the  floor,  and  members  who  wanted  it.  In  the 
midst  of  the  confusion  the  Prime  Minister  returned.  His  ex- 
pectations had  been  realized,  he  said,  and  the  gentlemen  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  House  were  now  quarreling  over  their 
booty.  But  this  sarcasm  did  not  shame  them  ;  it  only  added  to 
the  disorder;  and  in  the  midst  of  the  confusion  the  Scotch  mem- 
ber's rider  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  resolution  was  adopted. 

The  Scotch  Keform  Bill  necessitated  some  further  changes  in 
that  measure  which  applied  to  the  southern  kingdom  ;  but  these 
were  passed  without  much  opposition.  There  were  some  minor 
measures  passed,  and  some  of  considerable  importance  to  the 
country,  such  as  the  authorization  of  the  purchase  of  the  vari- 
ous telegraph  lines ;  but  none  that  are  of  interest  in  connection 
with  our  subject.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  too  closely  identified  with 
that  great  measure  which  he  finally  passed,  to  speak  at  length  on 
other  topics. 

His  Suspenso.  Bill,  which  was  preliminary  to  one  abolishing 
the  Establishment  in  Ireland,  was  at  last  introduced  and  passed 
the  House  by  a  majority  of  fifty-four ;  but  it  was  defeated  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  where  the  Conservative  element  so  far  outnum- 
bers the  Liberal. 

If  there  were  exciting  times  in  the  House  of  Commons,  the 
members  were  not  free  from  cares  connected  with  their  seats 
when  they  had  left  St.  Stephen's.  Parliament  was  prorogued 
the  last  day  of  July,  with  a  view  to  its  dissolution  the  middle  of 
November.  The  candidates  at  once  proceeded  to  make  their 
canvass. 

The  election  speeches  of  Mr.  Disraeli  and  Mr.  Gladstone, 
while  nominally  addressed  to  their  special  constituents,  were  of 
course  meant  as  general  expositions  of  the  policy  of  their  re- 
spective parties.  As  such,  we  need  not  quote  them,  as  the} 
dealt  mainly  with  that  great  question  which  had  defeated  the 
Ministry.  One  sentence  of  a  speech  which  Mr.  Gladstone  de- 
livered at  St.  Helen's  is  so  apt  a  description  of  the  Irish  Church 
that  we  give  it,  alone:  "You  must  not  take  away  its  abuses,  be- 
cause, if  you  take  them  away,  there  will  be  nothing  left." 
It  was  well  known  that  the  Conservatives  would  spare  no  ef- 


264  Representing  South  Lancashire. 

fort  to  defeat  Mr.  Gladstone  in  Southwest  Lancashire.  Though 
the  weather  was  bitterly  cold  when  the  nominations  took  place, 
the  space  around  the  hustings  was  crowded.  The  Conservatives 
had  displayed  their  wit  upon  numerous  placards,  which  were  en- 
joyed by  Mr.  Gladstone  as  well  as  by  his  enemies.  "  Bright' s 
Disease  and  Lowe  Fever,"  "  Time-table  to  Greenwich,"  and 
similar  happy  hits  were  to  be  seen.  During  Mr.  Gladstone's 
speech  of  forty  minutes,  he  was  regaled  with  a  choral  perform- 
ance of  the  national  anthem.  Notwithstanding  this,  he  proceed- 
ed, with  much  eloquence,  to  state  the  Liberal  policy. 

While  there  was  a  great  preponderance  of  feeling  in  favor  of 
Mr.  Gladstone  at  the  hustings,  the  polls  told  a  different  story, 
and  the  foremost  Liberal  would  have  been  left  without  a  seat  in 
Parliament,  had  not  the  Liberals  of  Greenwich,  fearful  of  such  a 
contingency,  placed  him  in  nomination  and  elected  him  by  a 
triumphant  majority.  Other  notable  members  of  the  party  who 
were  defeated  at  this  election  were  the  Marquis  of  Hartington 
and  Mr.  John  Stuart  Mill. 

But  in  spite  of  these  notable  single  defeats,  the  Liberals  had 
carried  the  day.  More  than  half  a  million  voters  of  the  three 
kingdoms  were  the  majority  for  the  Opposition.  Since  1832  no 
such  party  majority  had  been  known. 

Under  such  circumstances,  Mr.  Disraeli  did  not  think  it  nec- 
essary to  wait  until  Parliament  should  assemble ;  but  at  once 
tendered  his  resignation,  and  those  of  his  coPeagues,  to  the 
Queen.  There  was  no  question  as  to  who  was  to  be  his  successor; 
for  although  Earl  Eussell  was  still  a  not  inactive  member  of  the 
House  of  Lords,  he  had  practically  renounced  the  leadership  of 
the  party.  After  him  there  was  but  one,  the  man  who  had  been 
the  most  illustrious  of  his  colleagues,  who  had  occupied  the  most 
responsible  post  in  the  Administration  which  had  resigned  to 
make  way  for  Derby  and  Disraeli.  For  him  the  Queen  sent ; 
and  William  Ewart  Gladstone  now  reached  that  highest  emin- 
ence attainable  by  a  British  subject — that  of  First  Minister  of 
the  Crown,  or,  as  more  familiarly  designated,  Prime  Minister  of 
Great  Britain. 


(I)    m 

A*Afu 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE  FIRST  GLADSTONE  MINISTRY. 

Prime  Minister  of  England — Disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church — Disraeli's 
Sarcasm — Eloquent  Defense  by  John  Bright — Opposition  Among  the 
Peers — Irish  Land  System — Bill  for  the  Relief  of  Ireland — System  of 
Education  English  Tourists  Seized  by  Greek  Brigands — War  Between 
France  and  Prussia — Russia's  Control  of  the  Black  Sea — Marriage  of  the 
Princess  Louise  Army  Regulation  Bill — Tory  Abuse  of  Mr.  Gladstone — 
Ballot  Bill — Proposal  to  Admit  Women  to  the  Franchise — Much  Opposi- 
tion to  the  Government — Able  Speeches  by  the  Premier. 

GLADSTONE  was  fifty-nine  years  old  the  same 
month  that  he  became  Prime  Minister  of  England  for  the 
first  time.  There  were  scarcely  any  evidences  of  ad- 
vancing years  to  be  seen  in  his  face  and  he  had  all  tbe  fire  of 
youth  in  his  voice  and  manner.  He  was  at  the  head  of  a  power. 
fu.1  party,which  had  come  into  office  with  a  strength  that  had  not 
been  equalled  for  nearly  forty  years.  His  Government  was  a 
strong  one ;  what  might  he  not  hope  to  accomplish  ? 

When  it  was  known  that  the  Liberals  were  in  the  majority,  no 
one  had  the  least  doubt  but  that  Mr.  Gladstone  would  be  Prime 
Minister  ;  and  it  was  equally  certain  that  certain  men  would  be 
included  in  his  Cabinet.  But  there  was  considerable  surprise  ex» 
cited  by  one  appointment  which  he  made.  This  was  the  nomin- 
ation of  John  Bright  to  be  President  of  the  BoarcJ  of  Trade.  It 
was  thought  that  Mr.  Bright  would  not  consent  to  be  hampered 
in  the  expression  of  his  individual  opinions,  as  a  Cabinet  Minis- 
ter must  be  when  he  is  not  in  full  accord  with  his  colleagues; 
Lord  Palmerston  had  humorously  complained,  some  years  be- 
fore this  time,  that  a  Prime  Minister  was  no  longer  able  to  do  just 
as  he  liked;  men  with  consciences,  ideas,  abilities  of  their  own, 
were  in  office,  and  would  not  consent  to  be  the  mere  clerks  of 
their  chief.  It  was  indeed  with  some  reluctance  that  Mr.  Bright 
accepted  this  post,  and  he  was  careful  to  explain  to  his  constitu- 
ents that  they  must  not  think  he  had  changed  his  opinions,  if 

the  measures  of  the  Ministry  were  sometimes  opposed  to  his 

265 


Wm.  E.  Gladstone  at  Age  of  Fifty-nine. 


266 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry.  267 

known  ideas,  unless  he  himself  should  announce  such  modification 
to  them.  It  had  been  originally  planned  to  make  him  Secretary 
for  India,  but  the  possibility  of  circumstances  arising  in  which  he 
would  be  obliged  to  direct  military  operations  made  it  desirable 
to  place  him  in  some  office  where  he  would  not  be  called  upon  to 
do  that  which  was  in  direct  antagonism  with  his  opinions  as  a 
member  of  the  Society  of  Friends. 

If  the  Government  was  a  strong  one,  it  had  need  of  all  its 
strength.  The  task  before  it  was  an  exceedingly  difficult  one; 
and  although  the  policy  of  the  party  had  been  approved  by  such 
a  vast  majority  of  the  people,  there  were  not  wanting  those  who 
regarded  the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish  church  as  an  act  of 
sacrilege,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  say  so.  At  public  meetings  it 
was  characterized  as  a  wicked,  ungodly  and  abominable  measure, 
framed  in  a  spirit  of  inveterate  hostility  to  the  Church,  a  great 
national  sin,  a  dreadful  thing,  a  perilous  weakening  of  the  foun- 
dations of  property,  which  the  Queen  must,  at  all  hazards,  inter- 
fere to  prevent,  as  she  had  better  jeopardize  her  crown  than  de- 
stroy the  Church. 

These  were  expressions  used  by  bishops  and  other  clergymen, 
and  by  noblemen,  who  were  presumably  civil-spoken.  The  laity 
of  lower  rank,  as  was  to  be  expected,  were  even  more  unmeas- 
ured in  their  denunciations.  The  statements  of  the  Liberal  press 
and  the  Liberal  speakers  were  lies  ;  the  members  of  the  Govern- 
ment were  traitors,  robbers,  political  brigands  j  if  there  were  any 
form  of  abuse  that  was  not  used,  it  was  because  it  was  unknown 
to  these  zealous  defenders  of  the  Establishment. 

Mr.  Gladstone,  of  course,  paid  not  the  slightest  attention  to 
these  outcries  of  the  defeated  party.  He  gave  notice  that  he 
should  bring  in  his  bill  on  the  1st  of  March.  His  speech  occupied 
three  hours  in  the  delivery,  but  even  Mr.  Disraeli,  who  seems  to 
have  been  in  an  unusually  complimentary  mood,  admitted  that 
there  was  not  one  sentence  that  the  subject  and  the  argument 
could  have  spared. 

The  bill  was  a  simple  one,  and  seems  to  have  been  a  justly 
framed  measure.  The  Irish  Church  was  to  cease  to  exist  as  a 
State  Establishment,  and  was  to  become  a  free  Episcopal  Church. 
The  bishops  would  of  course  lose  their  seats  in  the  House  of 
Lords.  A  governing  body,  elected  from  the  clergy  and  laity, 
would  be  recognized  by  the  Government ;  the  union  between  the 
English  and  Irish  Churches  was  to  be  dissolved,  and  the  Irish 


268  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

Ecclesiastical  Courts  were  to  be  abolished.  Then  there  were 
provisions  for  the  disposal  of  the  revenue  in  such  a  way  as  to 
prevent  any  injustice  being  done  to  those  who  had  claims  upon 
the  Establishment.  There  would  be  a  considerable  surplus  after 
all  claims  were  satisfied,  and  it  was  proposed  to  use  this  to  allev- 
iate unavoidable  suffering  in  Ireland.  There  was  some  discussion 
with  regard  to  this,  as  it  was  thought  to  be  somewhat  indefinite  j 
Mr.  Gladstone  spoke  ®f  making  provision  for  the  blind,  the  deaf 
and  dumb,  for  reformatories,  schools  for  the  training  of  nurses 
and  the  support  of  county  infirmaries.  Of  this  disposition  of 
the  funds  Mr.  Bright  was  the  ardent  champion. 

Along  with  the  Establishment,  the  Maynooth  grant  and  the 
regium  donum  came  to  an  end.  "We  have  in  a  previous  chapter 
epoken  of  the  former  j  the  latter  was  a  royal  allowance  for  the 
maintenance  of  Presbyterian  ministers  in  Ireland.  It  had  begun 
under  the  Stuarts,  and  been  abolished  under  the  same  House  j 
but  was  restored  by  William  III.,  who  had  reason  to  be  grateful 
to  Irish  Presbyterians.  Both  were  small  things,  but  their  abolition 
established  the  equality  of  religious  denominations  in  Ireland. 

The  bill  was  of  course  resisted,  but  it  was  not  such  a  resistance 
as  is  opposed  when  the  Opposition  has  any  hope  of  succeed- 
ing. Mr.  Disraeli  spoke,  but  his  speech  was  characterized  as 
"  flimsiness  relieved  by  spangles — the  definition  of  a  columbine's 
skirt."  "  He  began  in  the  philosophical  vein,"  said  the  Times, 
which  had  given  this  definition;  "and  while  we  acknowledge 
that  Mr.  Disraeli's  fun  is  exquisite,  his  philosophy  is  detestable." 
He  had  no  faith  in  the  possibility  of  success,  it  was  evident  to 
his  hearers  j  the  speech  was  a  perfunctory  one,  a  mere  matter 
of  form  ;  and  contrasted  badly,  sparkling  and  bewildering  in  its 
conceits  and  illustrations  as  it  was,  with  that  in  which  the  Prime 
Minister  had  introduced  the  measure,  which  was  said  at  the  time 
to  be  "  a  Parliamentary  achievement  unequalled  even  by  him- 
self." 

But  if  Mr.  Disraeli  took  little  interest  in  the  contest  in  which  he 
had  only  to  expect  defeat,  it  was  not  so  with  some  of  his  adher- 
ents. Mr.  Grathorne  Hardy,  in  particular,  who  is  said  to  have 
been  so  constituted  that  he  could  see  but  one  side  of  a  question 
at  a  time,  saw  what  was  most  decidedly  the  Conservative  side 
of  this  one,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  say  so,  in  a  speech  so  filled 
with  the  conviction  that  this  was  an  act  of  spoliation  and  sacri- 
lege that  it  was  almost  up  to  the  level  of  eloquence. 


27D  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

Mr.  Bright  was  one  of  the  most  eloquent  defenders  of  the 
measure.  He  spoke  in  reply  to  Mr.  Disraeli's  speech.  AKad- 
ing  to  the  statement  that  the  Establishment  was  a  protect- 
or of  the  freedom  of  religion  and  toleration,  which  had  been 
advanced  by  the  ex-Premier,  he  said  that  Mr.  Disraeli  "  seem- 
ed to  read  a  different  history  from  everyone  else,  or  else  he 
made  his  own,  and,  like  Voltaire,  made  it  better  without  facts 
than  with  them."  He  closed  what  was  justly  called  a  magnificent 
oration,  with  a  noble  and  dignified  appeal,  which,  coming  from 
any  other  lips,  would  have  seemed  daring,  but  which  from  him 
exercised  a  powerful  and  impressive  effect  upon  the  House. 

Mr.  Lowe,  who  had  come  out  of  the  Cave  of  Adullam  long  ago, 
and  was  now  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  made  an  attack  up- 
on Mr.  Disraeli,  and  proved  to  his  own  satisfaction,  if  not  to  that 
of  the  Conservative  chief,  that  the  Irish  Church  had  neglected 
all  its  opportunities  of  conciliating  the  people. 

Mr.  Gladstone  reviewed  the  course  of  the  debate.  Mr.  Hardy, 
he  said,  had,  by  his  accusations  of  the  Irish  people,  shown  that 
he  dare  do  what  Burke  would  not  attempt — "  draw  an  indict- 
ment against  a  whole  people."  But  even  in  this  picture  of  the 
Irish  people,  which  was  little,  if  any,  short  of  libellous,  there 
were  evils  displayed  for  which  Mr.  Hardy  had  no  remedy.  He 
then  went  on  to  consider  the  charge  that  this  bill  would  necessi- 
tate a  change  in  the  Coronation  Oath,  and  showed  the  ground- 
lessness of  that  argument.  One  after  another,  the  pleas  which 
had  been  advanced  for  the  maintenance  of  a  Church  in  which  the 
people  had  no  part,  save  to  be  taxed  for  its  support,  were 
taken  up  and  pulled  to  pieces.  Mr.  Gladstone  showed  that  these 
arguments  were  like  Mr.  Disraeli's  speech  in  one  respect  only — 
there  was  flimsiness  without  the  spangles. 

The  division  was  then  taken.  There  was  intense  excitement 
throughout  the  House,  though  the  Government  was  secure  in  a 
majority  sufficient  to  carry  the  measure  through.  But  the  whips 
had  been  hard  at  work,  and  it  was  not  known  how  this  might  be 
diminished.  There  were  actually  present  in  the  House  six  hun- 
dred and  twenty-two  members,  a  number  which  has  seldom  been 
exceeded,  or  even  equalled.  Much  to  the  surprise  of  both  sides, 
the  majority  was  nearly  double  those  of  the  previous  year  upon 
the  same  question  ;  and  the  progress  of  public  opinion  was  clear- 
ly demonstrated. 

The  further  progress  of  the  bill  was  slow,  but  sure.     It  was 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry.  271 

three  months  before  the  final  reading  came  on,  and  it  was  at  last 
adopted  by  the  Commons.  The  ordeal  of  the  House  of  Lords 
yet  remained  j  and  for  some  time  its  fate  was  doubtful.  Some  of 
the  debates  in  the  House  of  Lords  are  said  to  have  been  more  in- 
teresting than  those  in  the  Commons.  The  hereditary  legislators 
dared  not  set  themselves  directly  against  a  clear  expression  of 
public  opinion,  but,  mindful  of  the  condition  on  which  they  are 
said  to  hold  their  power,  contented  themselves  with  discussing 
amendments.  There  was  at  one  time  a  rumor  that  the  Peers  would 
reject  or  greatly  delay  the  bill,  and  Mr.  Bright  wrote  an  angry  let- 
ter on  the  subject,  addressed  to  a  Birmingham  meeting,  in  which 
he  said  that  if  the  Lords  persisted  in  thro  wing  themselves  athwart 
the  national  course  they  might  meet  with  accidents  not  pleasant 
for  them  to  think  of.  The  Peers  were  many  of  them  shocked  and 
scandalized  that  a  Cabinet  Minister  should  give  such  plain  and 
forcible  expression  to  his  opinions,  and  it  was  made  the  subject 
of  some  sharp  discussion  among  them  as  well  as  in  the  Com- 
mons. But  the  very  publicity  and  unexpectedness  of  the 
menace  gave  it  a  force  which  made  it  irresistible.  If  Cab- 
inet Ministers  had  been  in  the  habit  of  expressing  themselves 
so  openly  when  they  held  such  opinions,  there  would  have 
been  nothing  thought  of  it  j  but  even  Palmerston,  when  he  de- 
clared that  the  Lords  should  not  be  allowed  to  resist  the  will  of 
the  people,  as  expressed  by  the  vote  of  the  Commons,  had  put  it 
into  the  form  of  a  jest.  Mr.  Bright,  however,  had  a  peculiar  priv- 
ilege in  England  ;  ho  could  sayjust  what  he  meant.  Perhaps  this 
unusual  permission  was  accorded  him  because  it  was  well  under- 
stood that  he  would  do  as  he  pleased  anyhow. 

But  the  attacks  which  had  been  made  upon  the  bill  and  its  au- 
thor outside,  were  renewed  in  the  House  of  Lords.  The  Earl  of 
Winchelsea  compared  Mr.  Gladstone  to  Jack  Cade,  and  after 
hinting  at  the  coming  of  an  Oliver  Cromwell,  declared  that  he 
would  go  to  the  block  before  he  would  surrender.  Lord  Grey  said 
that  the  Lords  were  humiliated  and  degraded. 

The  passage  of  the  Act  for  the  Disestablishment  of  the  Irish 
Church,  introduced  and  carried  within  a  space  of  five  months, 
has  been  called  the  most  remarkable  legislative  achievement  of 
modern  times.  It  was  carried  mainly  by  the  resolute  will  and 
unflinching  energy  of  the  man  with  whom  it  had  originated,  and 
who  had  become  Prime  Minister  because  of  it. 

But  the  thing  could  not  end  here.     One  reform  is  never  ac- 


The  Election  Campaign — Mr.  Gladstone  in  the  Assembly  Hall  at  Edinburyh. 


272 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry.  273 

complished  without  making  another  more  necessary.  There  is 
no  possibility  of  strict  conservatism  in  politics;  there  must  be 
progress,  or  there  is  retrogression.  Having  settled  the  question 
of  the  Irish  Church,  the  Gladstone  Government  found  itself  face  to 
face  with  the  Irish  Land  Problem.  It  had  carried  the  one;  but  even 
the  prestige  of  that  victory  would  not  avail  them  if  they  failed 
to  do  anything  with  the  other.  There  had  been  some  who  said 
that  the  State  Church  was  merely  a  sentimental  grievance;  but 
as  an  eminent  Irish  writer  of  the  present  day  observes,  if  the 
land  system  were  a  grievance  at  all,  it  must  be  acknowledged 
that  it  was  a  terribly  practical  one. 

The  Irish  Land  System  is  one  which  has  seldom  been  under- 
stood, simply  because  a  bare  and  simple  statement  of  the  facts 
seems  incredible.  The  upholders  of  it  have  instanced  landlords 
who  were  all  that  could  be  wished,  just  as  the  upholders  of 
slavery  in  our  own  country  brought  forward  hundreds  of  cases 
in  which  the  slaves  were  better  off  before  than  after  emancipa- 
tion ;  it  would  of  course  be  impossible  to  find  any  state  of  affairs, 
however  crying  the  evil,  where  there  were  not  good  men  whose 
conduct  ameliorated  the  evil  as  far  as  their  influence  extended; 
and  there  have  been  Irish  landlords  who  have  had  consideration 
for  their  tenants,  just  as  there  were  humane  slaveholders.  But 
a  system  which  put  such  power  into  the  hands  of  any  body  of 
men,  some  of  whom  were  certain  to  misuse  it,  was  at  best  a 
faulty  one. 

The  Irish  tenant  held  his  land  at  the  will  of  his  landlord.  If 
he  cultivated  the  land  so  as  to  raise  a  greater  crop  than  it  had 
before  produced,  he  showed  that  it  was  of  more  value  than  the 
owner  had  supposed  it  was,  and  his  rent  was  raised.  If  he  put 
any  improvements  upon  the  place,  he  added  to  its  value,  and  his 
rent  was  raised.  If  the  little  farm  seemed  a  desirable  holding 
to  any  one  else,  and  an  offer  were  made  to  the  landlord  or  agent 
in  accordance  with  this  opinion,  the  unfortunate  tenant  had 
reason  to  congratulate  himself  that  his  rent  was  simply  raised, 
and  that  he  and  his  family  were  not  turned  adrift  to  shift  for 
themselves.  The  demand  was  so  great  that  men  would  offer  any 
price  for  land — a  price  which  they  must  have  known  they  could 
not  get  out  of  it.  True,  there  was  but  a  slip-shod  system  of 
farming  in  vogue  among  them,  but  what  more  could  be  expected? 
There  was  literally  no  room  for  improvement,  until  a  better  law 
should  widen  the  limits  of  their  exertions. 

18 


274  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

It  was  not  so  in  all  parts  of  Ireland.  There  was  one  province 
in  which  the  stronger  law  of  custom  had  overcome  the  weaker 
written  rule.  The  principle  of  "tenant-right"  prevail  in  Ulster 
— tenant-right,  which  Lord  Palmerston,  with  more  wit  than  hu- 
manity or  justice,  had  defined  as  "  landlord-wrong."  A  man  was 
allowed  to  remain  in  possession  as  long  as  he  paid  his  rent;  he 
was  entitled,  on  giving  up  his  holding,  to  compensation  for  un- 
exhausted improvements ;  and  he  was  at  liberty  to  sell  what  may 
be  called  the  good-will  of  his  farm  for  what  it  would  bring  in  the 
market.  Wherever  this  tenant-right  principle  prevailed,  there 
was  industry  and  prosperity;  where  it  was  unknown,  there  were 
idleness  and  poverty,  with  discontent  and  crime  as  their  natural 
consequences. 

How  far  the  fact  that  this  right  had  been  asserted  in  Ulster  and 
not  in  the  other  provinces  was  due  to  the  character  of  the  people, 
and  how  far  the  maintenance  of  it  was  due  to  the  different 
estimation  in  which  the  inhabitants  of  the  North  and  of  the 
South  were  held  in  England,  is  a  question  which  each  must  de- 
termine for  himself.  It  is  difficult  to  state  one's  opinion  exactly 
without  either  unjustly  accusing  the  English  people  of  a  re- 
ligious intolerance,  which  made  any  act  of  oppression  seem  justi- 
fiable, or,  on  the  other  hand,  exonerating  them  from  a  charge 
which  is  not  in  all  respects  undeserved. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when,  on  the  15th  of  February, 
1870,  Mr.  Gladstone  introduced  his  Irish  Land  Bill  into  the 
House  of  Commons.  It  was  thought  inefficient  and  unsatis- 
factory by  some  of  the  Irish  members,  and  was  for  that  reason 
opposed  by  them.  The  most  that  it  did  was  to  establish  as  the 
law  for  the  whole  island  what  custom  had  already  made  law  in 
Ulster.  Landlords,  under  certain  conditions,  were  allowed  to 
contract  for  themselves  out  of  the  provisions  of  the  bill;  and 
hence  it  arose  that  these  opposing  members  appeared  to  be 
justified  in  their  course  by  the  fact  that  eventually  there  were 
more  evictions,  immediately  after  the  passage  of  the  bill,  than 
there  had  been  before. 

If  the  bill  were  regarded  as  a  half-measure  by  the  Irish,  it  was 
not  so  esteemed  by  the  landlords,  who  declared  it  to  be  revolu- 
tionary. It  put  an  end  to  the  landlord's  absolute  power,  and 
recognized  that  the  Government  could  interfere  with  the  right  of 
the  land-owner,  to  limit  it  for  the  good  of  the  community,  just  as 
it  can  interfere  for  the  same  purpose  with  the  rights  of  others. 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry.  275 

The  bill  was  not  pnt  forward  by  tbe  Government  as  a  perfect 
measure.  They  had  worked  hard  at  it,  Mr.  Gladstone  told  the 
House,  and  it  was  the  best  that  they  could  do ;  but  they  invited, 
in  perfect  good  faith,  the  co-operation  of  all  parties  and  all  mem- 
bers in  its  improvement.  They  desired  that  the  measure  should 
be  a  great  boon  to  Ireland,  and  put  an  end  to  the  grievances  and 
sufferings  which  her  people  had  so  long  endured.  They  had  not 
knowingly  proceeded  in  any  spirit  of  partisanship;  and  as  they 
had  afforded  the  occupier  improved  security  of  tenure,  so  they 
afforded  the  landlord  a  better  security  for  his  rent  and  for  the 
better  cultivation  of  his  land.  With  regard  to  the  Irish  laborer, 
the  only  thing  which  they  could  hope  to  do  for  him — and  it  was 
a  great  thing — was  to  increase  the  demand  for  his  labor;  this 
won'  I  1-3  done  by  stimulating  the  agricultural  interests  of  the 
country;  a  course  which,  by  making  more  demand  for  labor, 
would  raise  the  price  of  it.  The  landlord  might  suffer  some  at 
first;  but  he  would  not  ultimately  be  the  loser.  He  believed 
that  there  was  a  store  of  undeveloped  wealth  in  the  Irish  soil, 
which  could  only  be  developed  by  the  joint  action  of  landlord 
and  tenant.  He  hoped  that  this  bill  would  be  accepted  by  both 
Classes,  because  it  was  just.  He  said  that  the  Government  hoped 
by  this  measure  to  effect  a  great  change  in  Ireland,  but  to  effect 
it  by  gentle  means.  Every  line  had  been  carefully  studied,  so 
that  it  should  import  as  little  as  possible  of  violent  shock  or  al- 
teration into  the  existent  condition  of  things ;  it  was  desired  that 
the  operation  of  the  bill  should  be  like  that  of  nature,  when  she 
restores  upon  a  desolated  land  what  has  been  laid  waste  by  the 
hand  of  man.  This  they  knew  could  not  be  done  in  a  day.  The 
evils  had  grown  up  through  a  long  period  of  time,  and  could  not 
be  suddenly  corrected  without  injuring  many  innocent  persons. 
That  the  bill  might  pass,  it  was  necessary  to  view  it,  not  as  the 
triumph  of  one  class  over  another,  or  of  party  over  party,  but 
as  a  common  work  of  common  love  and  good-will  to  the  common 
good  of  the  common  country.  The  only  enduring  ties  by  which 
Ireland  might  be  united  to  England  and  Scotland  were  freewill 
and  free  affection. 

The  Opposition  of  course  spoke  against  it  with  more  or  less 
effect — generally  less.  Sir  Eoundell  Palmer,  while  he  described 
the  bill  as  large  and  important,  called  it  a  humiliating  neces- 
sity ;  Mr.  Disraeli  said  that  "  a  more  complicated,  a  more  clum- 
sy, or  more  heterogeneous  measure  was  never  yet  brought  before 


276 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 


the  attention  of  Parliament."  The  scheme  of  course  included 
some  means  of  enforcing  the  changes  which  were  made,  and  Mr. 
Disraeli  described  at  length,  and  with  some  effect  upon  the  risi- 
bilities of  the  House,  the  difficulties  which  would  beset  the 
courts  thus  established. 


Sir  Roundell  Palmer  (afterward  Lord  Selborne). 

In  closing  the  debate,  Mr.  Gladstone  had  few  arguments  to  re- 
ply to;  the  speeches  of  his  opponents  had  been  mainly  invec- 
tive. One  portion  of  this  speech  well  deserves  place  in  our  re- 
cord, as  an  expression  of  the  Government's  duty: 

"  It  is  our  desire  to  be  just,  but  to  be  just  we  must  be  just  to 
all.  The  oppression  of  a  majority  is  detestable  and  odious ;  the 
oppression  of  a  minority  is  only  by  one  degree  less  detestable 
and  odious.  The  face  of  Justice  is  like  that  of  the  god  Janus.  It 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry.  277 

is  like  the  face  of  those  lions,  the  work  of  Landseer,  which  keep 
watch  and  ward  around  the  record  of  our  country's  greatness. 
She  presents  the  tranquil  and  majestic  countenance  towards 
every  point  of  the  compass  and  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  That 
rare,  that  noble,  that  imperial  virtue  has  this  above  all  other 
qualities,  that  she  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  and  she  will  not 
take  advantage  of  an  unfavorable  moment  to  oppress  the  wealthy 
for  the  sake  of  flattering  the  poor,  any  more  than  she  will  con- 
descend to  oppress  the  poor  for  the  sake  of  pampering  the  luxur- 
ies of  the  rich." 

The  Opposition  had  not  intended  to  divide,  but  a  division  was 
forced  upon  them,  with  an  extraordinary  result.  Mr.  Disraeli 
and  many  of  his  influential  supporters  went  into  the  lobby  with 
Mr.  Gladstone,  so  that  the  whole  number  of  votes  for  the  Gov- 
ernment the  first  reading  was  four  hundred  and  forty-two.  The 
teller  on  the  other  side  had  an  unusually  easy  time  of  it,  for  he 
had  but  eleven  men  to  reckon  over. 

When  the  bill  went  into  committee,  there  was  more  serious  op- 
position. There  were  no  fewer  than  three  hundred  amendments 
moved;  one  of  which,  proposed  by  Mr.  Disraeli,  Mr.  Gladstone 
declared  was  an  effort  to  overthrow  one  of  the  cardinal  principles 
of  the  bill.  Upon  a  division  on  this  question  the  Government 
had  a  majority  of  seventy-six. 

The  further  discussions  in  the  House  of  Commons,  prolonged 
as  they  were,  did  not  affect  the  fortunes  of  the  bill,  which  went 
up  to  the  Lords  at  the  end  of  May.  It  passed  the  Upper 
House  without  important  alteration,  and  received  the  royal  as- 
sent on  the  1st  of  August. 

Mr.  Gladstone  had  said  some  time  before  this  that  the  Irish 
Upas-tree  had  three  Branches — the  Established  Church,  the 
Land  System,  and  the  System  of  Education ;  and  that  he  meant 
to  hew  them  all  down  if  he  could.  The  figure  met  with  not  a 
little  ridicule  at  the  time  it  was  used,  but  it  expressed  a  resolute 
purpose,  which  was  now  two-thirds  accomplished.  Perhaps,  in 
view  of  the  principle  before  enunciated,  that  one  reform  is  al- 
ways followed  by  another,  it  would  be  nearer  the  truth  to  say 
that  his  purpose  was  almost  accomplished;  for  certainly  the  dis- 
establishment of  the  Irish  Church,  and  the  change  which  had 
been  effected  in  the  tenure  of  land,  had  gone  a  long  way  toward 
preparing  men's  minds  for  the  fall  of  the  third  branch  of  that 
deadly  tree. 


278  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

The  second  important  measure  which  had  passed  the  House 
during  this  session  related  to  elementary  education  in  England 
and  Wales,  which  was  in  a  very  unsatisfactory  condition.  The 
Government  bill  which  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Forster,  was 
based  upon  the  principle  of  direct  compulsory  attendance.  The 
Government  and  the  Opposition  agreed  so  cordially  about  this 
measure  that  the  ire  of  some  of  the  Liberals  was  aroused,  and 
the  Ministry  were  charged  with  having  thrown  the  Non-confor- 
mists overboard,  in  order  to  secure  the  support  of  the  Conserva- 
tives. The  Premier  had  led  one  section  of  the  Liberal  party 
through  the  Yalloy  of  Humiliation,  complained  Mr.  Miall,  speak- 
ing on  behalf  of  the  Non-conformists,  and  they  would  not  again 
be  betrayed  by  him.  "  Once  bit,  twice  shy,"  he  concluded,  "  and 
we  can't  stand  this  sort  of  thing  much  longer." 

This  speech  stung  the  Premier  to  an  unusually  sharp  retort. 
If  they  thought  it  better  to  withdraw  for  the  sake  of  the  cause 
which  they  had  at  heart,  let  them  withdraw  from  the  support  of 
the  Government.  The  Government  did  not  want  their  support 
any  longer  than  it  was  consistent  with  their  own  sense  of  duty 
and  right.  But  when  the  Government  thought  that  Mr.  Miall 
and  his  companions  had  the  interests  of  the  communities  which 
they  represented  too  much  at  heart,  to  the  detriment  of  the  gen- 
eral interests,  the  Ministry  which  was  willing  to  co-operate 
with  them  for  the  common  good  of  all,  could  no  longer  aid 
them;  they  must  then  recollect  that  they  were  the  Government 
of  the  Queen,  and  propose  to  themselves  no  meaner  nor  narrower 
object  than  the  welfare  of  the  Empire  at  large. 

The  measure  eventually  passed  both  houses,  and  became  law, 
in  spite  of  the  protests  of  Messrs.  Miall  &  Co. 

A  profound  sensation  was  created  in  England  by  an  outrage 
which  was  perpetrated  in  Greece  during  the  spring  of  this  year. 
A  party  of  English  tourists  was  seized  by  Greek  brigands,  and 
held  for  an  enormous  ransom  in  money  coupled  with  a  demand 
for  certain  immunities.  An  effort  to  rescue  them  resulted  in  the 
murder  of  the  prisoners.  The  matter  being  formally  brought  to 
the  attention  of  Parliament,  the  Government  interfered  with 
such  effect  as  to  secure  the  execution  of  many  brigands,  and  al- 
most complete  extirpation  of  the  band  immediately  implicated. 
It  was  thought  at  the  time  that  this  would  lead  to  a  complete  in- 
vestigation of  the  condition  of  Greece,  but  the  stirring  events 
elsewhere  during  the  latter  portion  of  the  year  caused  it  to  be 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 


279 


forgotten  by  all  except  those  families  to  whom  it  was  a  matter  of 
sad  interest,  and  who  were  obliged  to  content  themselves  with  many 
sincere  expressions  of  public  sympathy. 

During  the  latter  days  of  the  session  of  1870,  there  arose  the 
dispute  concerning  the  succession  to  the  Spanish  crown  which 
ended  in  the  Franco  Prussian  War.  Isabella  II.  had  abdicated 


Emperor  Napoleon  III. 

in  favor  of  her  eldest  son,  Alphonso,  Prince  of  the  Asturias ;  who 
was  for  some  time  a  resident  of  England  and  a  student  at  Wool- 
wich; his  nominal  accession  not  bringing  the  cares  of  state 
with  it  for  some  years  afterward.  But  the  Powers  were  speedily 
busying  themselves  to  find  a  successor  to  Isabella,  whose  forced 
abdication  was  due  to  circumstances  which  naturally  drove  the 
whole  family  from  Spain,  for  the  time  at  least,  Prince  Leopold 


280  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

of  Hohenzollern  was  nominated,  but  the  candidacy  of  a  Prus* 
sian  prince  filled  France  with  alarm.  Thence  arose  the  quarrel ; 
and  even  Leopold's  withdrawal  did  not  mend  matters,  as  the 
Emperor  persisted  in  making  demands  which  the  King  of  Prus- 
sia was  unable  to  grant.  Napoleon  III.  was  smarting  under  the 
disgrace  which  had  attached  to  his  recent  desertion  of  Maximilian, 
and  had  resulted  in  the  deposition  and  execution  of  the  Mexican 
Emperor :  he  had  for  some  time  been  endeavoring  to  regain  the 
ground  thus  lost,  but  vainly;  a  war  would  give  him  military  pres- 
tige ;  and  he  determined  upon  war. 

A  very  short  time  was  sufficient  to  show  that  whatever  military 
prestige  the  war  might  give  was  not  for  Napoleon  III.  In  six 
weeks  after  the  formal  declaration  was  made,  Napoleon  was  a 
prisoner,  Eugenie  a  fugitive,  France  a  republic.  The  sym- 
pathies of  the  English  were  at  first  with  Prussia ;  and  England 
had  taken  no  small  part  in  upholding  the  claims  of  Leopold.  The 
Government,  however,  determined  to  preserve  a  strict  neutrality. 
But  the  popular  sentiment  changed,  and  set  strongly  in  favor  of 
France,  when  the  interests  of  that  country  were  once  divorced  from 
the  fortunes  of  the  wily  trickster  so  long  at  the  head  of  her  Govern- 
ment, and  who  was  so  generally  disliked  and  distrusted  by  the  mass 
of  the  English  people.  It  was  felt  that  Prussia,  or  rather  Ger- 
many (for  we  must  after  this  date  speak  of  the  empire  of  which  the 
kingdom  was  the  nucleus)  had  gone  too  far  in  its  efforts  to 
humiliate  a  conquered  people;  and  the  popular  voice  became 
clamorous  on  the  other  side.  The  English  seem  to  have  been  in  a 
warlike  humor  at  this  time,  and  determined  to  fight  some  one,  it 
did  not  much  matter  who  it  might  be;  but  fortunately  for  the 
nation,  the  good  sense  of  the  men  at  the  head  of  affairs  preserved 
her  neutrality,  and  saved  her  from  the  curse  of  war. 

Parliament  was  prorogued  Aug.  10th,  although  much  of  the 
legislation  which  the  Government  had  desired  to  carry  through 
had  been  abandoned  for  lack  of  time.  Two  great  reforms,  how- 
ever, had  been  accomplished  in  the  passage  of  the  acts  relating  to 
the  Irish  Land  System  and  to  elementary  education ;  and  it  was 
likely  that  a  Ministry  which  had  begun  with  making  such  changes 
would  not  be  content  with  the  laurels  thus  acquired,  but  would 
with  renewed  energies  attack  other  abuses. 

There  is  one  action  of  the  Premier's  during  this  session  which 
deserves  to  be  recorded,  as  an  instance  of  the  difference  between 
the  Gladstonian  and  the  Tory  views  of  the  treatment  of  political 


281 


282  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

prisoners.  The  Fenians  had  actually  offended  against  the  laws, 
not  only  of  the  British  Empire,  but  against  those  broader  prin- 
ciples which  are  at  the  bottom  of  every  legal  system.  They  were 
in  actual  and  open  rebellion  against  constituted  authority.  As 
long,  therefore,  as  that  authority  could  uphold  itself,  just  so  long 
their  rebellion  was  not  revolution ;  and  they  must  be  punished  as 
traitors.  Whatever  be  our  personal  feelings  with  regard  to  the 
efforts  which  have  been  made,  from  time  to  time,  for  the  libera- 
tion of  Ireland,  we  must  acknowledge  that  any  government  must 
punish  rebels  against  its  authority  or  consent  to  forego  its  right 
to  govern.  But  with  a  generosity  to  the  fallen,  and  with  a  wise 
recollection  that  persecution  only  strengthens  a  cause,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone declined  to  prosecute  the  prisoners  who  were  accused  of 
treason.  They  would  be  released  on  condition  of  their  not  re- 
maining in  the  United  Kingdom,  or  returning  to  it.  This  course, 
he  said  in  his  letter  to  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin,  he  believed 
was  "  perfectly  compatible  with  the  paramount  interests  of  pub- 
lic safety,  and,  being  so,  will  tend  to  strengthen  the  cause  of 
peace  and  loyalty  in  Ireland." 

During  the  recess,  the  Government  had  to  deal  with  the  vexed 
question  of  Russia's  control  of  the  Black  Sea.  The  Czar  had  de- 
clined to  recognize  its  neutrality  any  longer,  and  it  was  necessary 
for  the  Powers  to  take  some  action  for  the  protection  of  Turkey 
and  their  own  interests.  A  conference  was  held  in  London  to 
discuss  the  question  ;  and  the  assembled  diplomats  wisely  con- 
cluded that  as  the  Euxine  was  only  a  Russian  lake  anyhow,  do 
what  they  would,  the  Powers  might  as  well  let  that  member  of 
their  body  have  control  of  it.  There  were  certain  concessions 
demanded  for  the  Porte,  and  these,  being  chiefly  matters  of 
form,  were  granted ;  the  Porte  was  permitted  to  open  the  Dar- 
denelles  and  the  Bosphorus  for  the  passage  of  vessels  of  war  of 
friendly  and  allied  powers,  in  case  it  should  be  necessary  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  treaty  which  closed  the  Crimean  War;  but 
the  power  of  Russia  was  too  great  to  be  easily  limited. 

At  the  opening  of  the  session  of  1871,  Mr.  Disraeli  severely 
criticised  the  foreign  policy  of  the  Government.  The  naval  force 
particularly  was  the  subject  of  his  amusing  sarcasm;  and  he  en- 
tertained the  House  with  an  account  of  the  "  attenuated  arma- 
ment" which  made  impossible  an  armed  neutrality.  Mr.  Glad- 
stone retorted  that  what  he  now  called  an  attenuated  armament 
he  had  characterized  as  a  bloated  armament  ten  years  before; 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry.  283 

and  showed  conclusively  that  England  was  not  to  blame  for  not 
having  secured  the  strict  neutrality  of  the  Black  Sea,  since  all 
the  Powers  besides  were  opposed  to  the  continuance  of  a  state  of 
affairs  which  all  the  statesmen  of  the  day,  including  Lord  Clarendon 
and  Lord  Palmerston,  had  believed  would  be  only  temporary. 

The  foreign  policy  continued  to  be  the  subject  of  discussion 
for  some  time,  though  the  Leader  of  the  Opposition  would  not 
bring  the  thing  to  a  head  by  moving  an  amendment  to  the  Ad- 
dress, or  by  any  course  which  would  cause  a  division  to  be  taken. 
Mr.  Herbert,  however,  soon  brought  forward  a  motion  affirming 
that  the  House  thought  it  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  inter- 
fere, together  with  other  neutral  Powers,  to  secure  terms  of 
peace  as  favorable  as  possible  for  the  vanquished  in  the  war 
which  had  cost  Napoleon  III.  his  throne.  Mr.  Gladstone  answer- 
ed that  the  attitude  of  the  Government  had  not  been  one  of  self- 
ish isolation,  as  the  speaker  had  stigmatized  it ;  that  concerted  ac- 
tion with  Russia  was  impossible;  that  an  extorted  peace  was  what 
England  had  to  fear;  that  the  greater  the  magnanimity  shown 
by  the  victor,  the  better  it  would  be  for  all  the  neutral  Powers, 
as  well  as  for  Germany  herself;  that  neither  of  the  belligerents 
desired  the  intervention  of  others;  that  England  had  no  cause 
to  be  discontented  with  the  position  which  she  occupied  in  Eu- 
rope, but  that  the  action  of  neutrals,  to  be  effective,  must  be  con- 
certed. Mr.  Herbert  finally  expressed  himself  satisfied  with  the 
position  of  England,  as  stated  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  withdrew 
his  motion. 

The  marriage  of  the  Princess  Louise  occurred  in  March  of 
this  year,  and  Parliament  was  of  course  asked  to  make  some 
provision  for  her.  The  proposed  grant  aroused  the  opposition 
of  some  members,  who  affirmed  that  they  represented  the  inter- 
ets  and  sentiments  of  a  considerable  number  of  the  people.  The 
position  of  the  ministry  was  warmly  supported  by  its  head, 
who  defended  the  moderate  nature  of  the  grant  asked  for,  and 
showed  with  what  economy  the  royal  expenditure  was  managed. 
He  also  dwelt  upon  the  value  of  a  stable  dynasty,  and  the  un- 
wisdom of  making  calculations  of  a  minute  nature  upon  such  oc- 
casions. Whether  the  opposing  members  were  converted  to  this 
view  of  the  question,  or  simply  absented  themselves  when  it 
came  to  a  vote,  does  not  appear ;  but  when  the  resolution  forthe 
marriage  portion  came  to  be  reported,  there  was  but  one  dissent- 
ing voice  in  a  House  of  three  hundred  and  fifty-one  members. 


Statue  of  Mr.  Gladstone  in  St.  Georgia  Hall,  Liverpool. 


284 


MRS.  WILLIAM    EWART  GLADSTONE 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry.  285 

The  condition  of  affairs  in  Ireland  again  commanded  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Government.  The  special  difficulty  at  this  time  was 
the  spread  of  an  agrarian  conspiracy  in  Westmeath  and  the  ad- 
joining counties.  A  motion  was  made  for  a  committee  to  inquire 
into  the  existing  state  of  affairs  there,  Lord  Hartington,  who 
was  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland,  admitting  that  it  was  with  feel- 
ings of  painful  dismay  that  he  did  so.  The  lawless  condition  of 
things  in  that  particular  section,  however,  was  no  criterion  of  the 
general  condition  of  the  country.  Crime  had  subsided,  and  the 
constabulary  reports  evidenced  a  marked  improvement.  In  West- 
meath, and  the  adjoining  parts  of  Meath  and  King's  County,  how- 
ever, the  state  of  things  had  become  intolerable,  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  committee  was  desired  by  the  Government,  so  that  when 
further  powers  were  asked  for,  it  would  be  certain  that  such  ad- 
ditional authority  was  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
peace.  The  policy  of  the  Government  was  bitterly  condemned 
by  Mr.  Disraeli  and  Mr.  Hardy,  who  seems  to  have  been  at  this 
time  the  right-hand  man  of  the  Tory  leader.  The  Chief  of  the 
Opposition  said  that  Mr.  Gladstone  was  regarded  by  his  party 
as  having  possession  of  the  philosopher's  stone,  so  far  as  Irish 
affairs  were  concerned  ;  that  he  had  come  into  power  with  an  im- 
mense majority,  for  the  express  purpose  of  securing  the  tran- 
quility  and  content  of  that  country;  that  neither  time,  labor, 
nor  devotion  had  been  begrudged  him  ;  that  under  his  influence, 
and  at  his  instance,  Parliament  had  legalized  confiscation,  conse- 
crated sacrilege,  and  condoned  high  treason ;  destroyed  church- 
es, shaken  property  to  its  foundations,  and  emptied  jails ;  and 
now  he  could  not  govern  Ireland,  without  coming  to  Parliament 
for  a  committee.  After  all  his  heroic  exploits,  and  at  the  head 
of  his  great  majority,  he  was  making  Government  ridiculous. 

Mr.  Hardy's  denunciations  were  hardly  less  unmeasured.  Mur- 
der was  stalking  abroad,  he  said ;  the  Government  was  becoming 
contemptible  j  with  much  more  to  the  same  effect.  Mr.  Glad- 
stone, who  has  always  appeared  to  be  as  nearly  insensible  to  per- 
sonal attacks  as  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  be,  and  to  content  him- 
self with  defending  the  policy  advocated  by  him,  replied  to 
these  intemperate  speeches  with  his  accustomed  coolness.  Mr. 
Hardy's  heated  language  was  rebuked;  but  that  was  the  duty  of 
the  Head  of  the  Government  which  had  been  so  insultingly 
characterized ;  and  he  announced  that  the  Government  could 
not,  consistently  with  its  sense  of  duty,  withdraw  the  motion 


286  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

for  a  committee.  Mr.  Disraeli's  expressions  seem  to  us  severe; 
but  Mr.  Gladstone  was  happy  to  learn  that  the  right  honorable 
gentleman  had  got  down  to  expressions  so  moderate  and  judicial 
as  "  legalized  confiscation  and  consecrated  sacrilege,"  after  the 
language  which  he  had  used  in  opposing  the  disestablishment  of 
the  Irish  Church.  Mr.  Disraeli  had  admitted  that  in  1852  he  had 
not  adopted  the  means  which  he  believed  most  suitable  for  the 
protection  of  life  and  property  in  the  three  counties  of  Ireland, 
because  the  Government  was  weak.  Mr.  Gladstone  made  most 
effective  use  of  this  admission  ;  and  concluded  by  saying  that  the 
Government,  acting  upon  its  immediate  elementary  obligations, 
to  secure  personal  peace  and  freedom  in  the  transactions  of  life, 
felt  assured  of  the  endorsement  of  the  House. 

In  a  humorous  speech  by  a  member  of  the  Opposition,  the 
Cabinet  was  described  as  consisting  chiefly  of  "  Whig  Marion- 
ettes;" the  same  speaker  alluded  to  the  changes  which  had  been 
made  in  that  organization  as  similar  to  a  shuffling  which  left 
them  in  the  same  positions  as  at  first.  Over  the  door  was  plainly 
written  the  legend,  "No  Irish  need  apply."  The  Solicitor-Gen- 
eral replied  to  these  strictures  in  a  speech  which  was  an  argu- 
ment ad  hominem;  saying  that  if  the  last  speaker  were  given  an 
office  he  would  speedily  become  a  supporter  of  the  Government; 
and  that  his  boast  that  he  was  a  member  for  an  Irish  constituen- 
cy, and  his  self-gratulations  on  that  honor,  would  last  till  the 
next  general  election.  This  rejoinder  seems  to  have  silenced  the 
Opposition,  whose  chief  strength  lay  in  personal  attacks;  and 
the  committee  was  appointed.  After  events  fully  justified  the 
course  of  the  Government  in  this  respect. 

An  Army  Regulation  Bill  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Cardwell,  the 
Minister  for  War.  This  was  the  topic  which  excited  the  most  in- 
terest of  the  session.  His  scheme  for  the  reconstruction  of  the 
army  included  several  changes  of  importance.  The  various 
branches  of  the  service,  regular  troops,  militia,  volunteers,  and 
reserve,  were  to  be  combined  under  one  system  of  discipline. 
But  the  point  which  excited  the  most  opposition  was  the  pro- 
vision that  the  purchase  system  should  be  abolished.  This  was 
a  great  abuse,  which,  like  other  abuses,  had  grown  up  so  gradual- 
ly that  it  has  come  to  be  looked  upon  by  many  as  a  necessary  con- 
dition of  the  existence  of  the  army.  An  officer  bought  his  first 
commission,  he  bought  his  promotions,  step  by  step.  Mr.  Card- 
well's  bill  proposed  to  do  away  with  this,  and  substitute  pro- 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 


287 


motion  by  merit  and  seniority.  Commissions  were  looked  upon  as 
vested  interests,  as  personal  property,  for  the  holders  of  them 
had  bought  them,  and  expected  to  sell  them  on  promotion  or  re- 
tirement. 

The  abolition  of  the  purchase  system  had  been  advocated  by 
generations  of  reformers,  but  without  success.  Because  the  army, 
when  this  was  the  rule,  contrived  to  get  along  and  do  its  duty  in 
some  eort  of  fashion,  there  were  not  wanting  those  who  stoutly 
maintained  that  it  was  necessary  ;  that  if  it  were  abolished,  the 
army  would  waste  away,  and  the  military  glory  of  Britain  be 
forever  at  an  end.  For  many  years  past  there  had  been  a  motion 
for  its  abolition  made  an- 
nually by  Sir  DeLacy 
Evans;  but  his  unweari- 
ed persistence  came  to  be 
the  laughing  stock  of 
many.  Mr.  Trevelyan  had 
supported  it,  and  Lord 

Stanley,  whose  cool  good  ...^:Ow  ^KZ^HK 
sense  saw  the  advantages 
of  the  reform,  had  been 
its  friend.  But  there  were 
none  of  these  who  had 
both  the  will  and  the 
power  to  press  the  sub- 
ject upon  Parliament  in 
such  a  way  that  there 
was  no  getting  rid  of  it. 

Mr.  Gladstone,  on  his  accession  to  power,  had  resolved  to  in- 
clude it  in  the  list  of  reforms  to  be  attempted  by  his  Govern- 
ment. Of  course  it  was  bitterly  opposed.  It  was  essentially  a 
Liberal  measure,  in  the  sense  that  the  Liberal  party  is  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  people  as  opposed  to  the  aristocracy,  of  which 
the  Conservative  or  Tory  party  is  the  natural  exponent.  As  such 
the  reform  was  acrimoniously  opposed  by  the  Conservatives,  who 
were  convinced  that  the  aristocratic  system  was  the  only  one 
under  which  the  English  army  could  prosper  ;  that  promotion  by 
merit  was  too  French  or  too  American,  or  at  any  rate  too  un-En- 
glish. They  therefore  proposed  all  manner  of  amendments,  and 
oifered  all  kinds  of  obstructions.  The  same  arguments  were  re- 
peated again  and  again,  almost  in  the  same  words.  Besides  the 


Rt.  Hon.  Edward  Cardwell, 


288  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

other  objectionable  features,  it  was  far  from  being  an  economical 
measure,  as  the  Government  would  be  obliged  to  expend  a  large 
sum  of  money  to  re-purchase  commissions  held  at  the  time  that 
the  system  should  be  abolished.  The  Liberal  Government  had 
frequently  been  censured  by  the  Opposition  for  its  pinching  par- 
simony, but  here  was  an  instance  of  unnecessary  extravagance; 
and  the  Conservative  orators  made  the  most  of  it.  Meanwhile, 
the  session  was  wearing  along ;  if  the  matter  were  not  speedily 
settled,  it  would  lie  over  until  the  next  session,  when  it  would 
have  to  be  taken  up  again  wkh  all  the  disadvantage  which  at- 
taches to  a  bill  abandoned  in  one  session  and  brought  up  again 
by  the  same  Ministry  in  the  next.  The  Government  accordingly 
resolved  to  abandon  the  greater  part  of  its  complicated  scheme 
for  the  reorganization  of  the  army.  The  part  of  the  bill  which 
was  nearest  the  heart  of  the  Premier,  was  that  which  related  to 
the  purchase  system  ;  and  this  was  almost  all  that  was  retained. 
Shorn  of  its  fair  proportions  it  passed  the  second  reading, 
though  not  by  a  very  large  majority.  Meanwhile  the  Lords  had 
been  looking  on  with  alarm.  If  this  reform  were  demanded  by 
the  Commons,  they  could  not  long  resist  it ;  but  something  must 
be  done  to  express  their  sense  of  the  national  danger.  The  bill 
had  not  yet  come  before  them  for  action,  it  is  true ;  but  for  that 
they  could  not  wait.  At  a  sort  of  caucus  of  Conservative  Peers, 
it  was  resolved  that  the  Government  should  be  asked  for  further 
information  before  the  Lords  considered  the  bill.  It  was  worded 
cunningly  ;  they  did  not  object  to  the  bill ;  they  simply  asked  to 
what  it  was  to  lead.  The  amendment  of  the  Lords  was  adopted, 
and  the  bill  was  got  rid  of  for  the  present. 

Meanwhile,  Mr.  Gladstone  was  the  object  of  a  good  deal  of  abuse 
by  the  ultra  Tories  who  so  strenuously  opposed  the  reform.  The 
reason  for  this  was  the  course  which  he  took  to  defeat  the  Lords. 
It  was  an  ingenious  plan,  the  audacity  of  which  almost  took 
away  the  breath  of  the  Opposition.  Mr.  Gladstone  announced 
that  as  the  system  of  purchase  was  the  creation  of  royal  regula- 
tion, he  had  advised  the  Queen  to  take  the  decisive  step  of  can- 
celling the  royal  warrant  which  made  purchase  legal. 

It  was  a  blow  for  the  House  of  Lords.  Having  made  public 
beforehand  what  they  were  going  to  say,  they  found  that  there  was 
no  chance  to  say  it.  The  only  part  of  the  bill  which  remained  was 
that  relating  to  the  compensation  of  officers,  but  which  had  been 
deprived  of  their  money  value ;  to  refuse  to  pass  this  would  sim- 


289 


290  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

ply  be  to  refuse  the  officers,  for  whose  interests  they  were  con- 
tending, the  one  small  compensation  which  the  Government  would 
give  them.  Nothing  was  left  for  the  House  of  Lords  but  to  pass 
the  bill  as  quickly  as  possible,  and  this  they  did  ;  coupling  its 
passing,  however,  with  a  resolution  announcing  that  it  was  pass- 
ed only  in  order  to  secure  to  officers  of  the  army  the  compensa- 
tion they  were  entitled  to  receive,  and  censuring  the  Govern- 
ment for  having  obtained,  by  the  exercise  of  the  Eoyal  Preroga- 
tive, and  without  the  aid  of  Parliament,  that  which  Parliament 
was  not  likely  to  have  granted. 

When  the  course  of  the  Government  was  announced  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  it  was  received  after  a  moment  of  bewilder- 
ment with  a  wild  outburst  of  Liberal  exultation.  It  was  at  once 
felt  to  be  a  splendid  party  triumph.  But  after  the  first  enthusi- 
asm of  victory  was  over,  there  were  not  a  few  Liberals  who, 
looking  at  it  more  coolly,  saw  it  with  less  favorable  eyes.  It  was 
then  felt  to  have  been  an  act  of  tyranny,  almost ;  it  was  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  Prerogative  to  combat  the  will  of  Parliament.  Of 
course,  Mr.  Disraeli  and  his  adherents  were  the  first  to  utter 
such  censures,  but  they  were  echoed  by  men  who  had  heretofore 
supported  the  Government. 

Among  the  opponents  of  this  course  of  proceeding,  who  had 
been  counted  among  Mr.  Gladstone's  own  friends,  was  Mr.  Faw- 
cett,  whose  eminence  as  a  Parliamentary  debater  was  achieved 
in  spite  of  disadvantages  (he  was  totally  blind)  which  would  have 
deterred  many  a  man  from  the  attempt.  He  was  a  thorough  Lib- 
eral in  principles,  but  absolutely  independent  of  the  expedients 
and  sometimes  of  the  mere  discipline  of  party.  If  he  believed 
that  the  Liberal  Ministers  were  going  wrong,  he  censured  them 
as  freely  as  if  they  had  been  Tories;  on  this  occasion  he  felt 
strongly  about  the  course  which  Mr.  Gladstone  had  pursued,  and 
did  not  hesitate  to  condemn  it  before  the  House. 

Mr.  Disraeli  had  characterized  the  action  of  the  Government, 
and  had  reserved,  until  further  consideration,  the  more  objec- 
tionable epithet,  illegal.  There  was  no  question  of  the  legality 
of  this  step,  however.  At  the  advice  of  her  principal  Minister, 
the  Queen  had  exercised  what  was  undoubtedly  her  constitution- 
al power.  It  was  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  forms  which 
custom  had  prescribed.  But  it  was  generally  felt  to  be  an  unfair 
course,  one  not  sanctioned  by  the  spirit  of  the  constitution  which 
had  grown  up  by  such  slow  degrees.  The  unfairness  lay  in  this : 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 


291 


while  the  measure  was  before  Parliament,  to  which  it  had  been 
submitted  with  the  tacit  intimation,  implied  in    its  being   pro- 


Pro/.  Fawcett. 

posed  to  the  Houses,  that  their  decision  would  be  accepted,  it 
was  suddenly,  upon  the  first  hint  of  their  rejection,  taken  from 
their  jurisdiction,  and  placed  in  an  entirely  different  position.  If 


292  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

the  decision  of  the  Lords  and  Commons  were  not  to  be  final, 
iho  question  should  not  have  been  submitted  to  them  at  all,  but  the 
Hoyal  Prerogative  invoked  in  the  first  place. 

Certainly  the  reform  was  a  much  needed  one,  and  the  most  vio- 
lent Tory  would  not  now  desire  the  restoration  of  the  system 
which  was  thus  abolished  ;  but  whether  or  not  Mr.  Gladstone 
was  justified  in  the  means  which  he  used  for  its  abolition,  is  an- 
other question.  It  was  doing  evil  that  good  might  come;  and 
that  which  is  wrong  in  a  moral  point  of  view  can  hardly  be 
right  in  politics.  Had  he  not  taken  this  course,  there  would 
certainly  have  been  delay ;  the  Lords  would  probably  have  re- 
jected the  bill  ;  but  it  would  have  been  for  one  session  only.  If 
it  were  re-introduced  the  next  session,  it  would  again  be  carried 
by  the  Commons,  and  the  Peers  would  not  again  dare  to  reject  a 
bill  thus  doubly  approved  by  the  representatives  of  the  people  j 
possibly  it  would  have  passed  the  Upper  House  the  same  session, 
though  not,  of  course,  immediately. 

"Whatever  judgment  we  may  now  express  on  the  matter,  it  was 
a  course  which  brought  about  its  own  result.  It  was  the  cause  of 
considerable  loss  of  strength  by  the  Government,  whose  major- 
ity was  rapidly  waning. 

Another  important  measure  which  was  brought  before  the 
House  this  session  was  the  Ballot  Bill.  This  dragged  its  slow 
length  along  the  House  of  Commons,  violently  opposed  by  the 
Conservatives,  and  amended  until  it  was  but  the  skeleton  of  the 
original  measure.  It  then  went  up  to  the  Lords,  where  it  was 
rejected  by  a  considerable  majority. 

The  Lords  had  rejected  the  University  Tests  Bill  which  had 
been  introduced  the  previous  year,  but  a  measure  which  was 
substantially  the  same  was  again  introduced  by  Mr.  Gladstone 
this  session,  and  finally  carried.  The  Peers  amended  it,  but  the 
Commons  rejected  the  amendment;  then  the  Lords  rejected  the 
very  amendment  which  they  themselves  had  proposed,  and  the 
bill  went  through.  The  substance  of  this  bill  was  that  all  lay 
students,  of  whatever  creed,  should  thereafter  be  admitted  to  the 
universities  on  equal  terms. 

A  bill  to  admit  women  to  the  franchise  was  proposed  this  ses- 
sion, but  rejected.  In  a  speech  on  the  subject,  the  Premier 
caused  a  commotion  in  the  House  by  the  assertion  of  his  opinion 
that  if  the  ballot  were  established,  he  did  not  see  why  the  fran- 
chise could  not  be  extended  to  women. 


The  First  Gladstone 


293 


Mr.  Miall,  the  same  Non-conformist  who  had  threatened  to 
leave  the  Liberal  party,  and  who  had  been  told  by  its  head  that  he 
was  at  liberty  to  do  so,  brought  forward  a  bill  for  the  disestab- 
lishment of  the  Church  of  England.  This  was  opposed  by  both 
Disraeli  and  Gladstone.  The  former  announced  his  belief  that 


Mr.  Edward  Miall. 

the  great  majority,  both  in  the  House  and  in  the  country,  were 
in  favor  of  the  Church  ;  and  he  opposed  the  motion  more  for  the 
sake  of  the  State  than  of  the  Church.  The  Premier  said  that 
the  Government  was  emphatically  opposed  to  the  motion,  and 
showed  clearly  the  distinction  between  the  Irish  Church,  which 
had  been  a  foreign  church,  engrafted  by  conquerors  upon  the 
people,  and  the  English  Church,  which  was  essentially  a  nation- 
al institution,  and  had  grown  up  with  the  nation.  Space  does 


294  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

not  permit  us  to  quote  his  eloquent  words  defending  the  Church 
from  this  assailant;  he  claimed  it  was  the  mere  effort  of  a  dis- 
contented sect  to  do  away  with  what  was  firmly  established  n 
the  hearts  of  the  people. 

There  had  been  considerable  trouble  with  the  United  States 
which  at  one  time  appeared  to  be  growing  beyond  the  bounds 
of  peace.  The  United  States  Government  had  always  resented 
the  part  which  England  took  in  the  War  between  the  States, 
claiming  that  neutrality  was  not  preserved.  We  have  already 
spoken  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Alabama  was  built  and  sent 
out  to  sea,  notwithstanding  the  protests  of  the  United  States 
representative.  The  British  Government  was  held  to  be  re- 
sponsible for  depredations  which  it  had  not  tried  to  prevent. 
There  were  other  subjects  of  dispute  which  had  arisen,  and  each 
tended  to  make  the  others  harder  to  settle  peaceably.  The 
threatened  rupture  was  averted  by  a  treaty  concluded  at  Washing- 
ton in  May  of  this  year,  by  which  it  was  agreed  to  refer  the  dispu- 
ted claims  to  two  boards  of  arbitration,  established  by  the  treaty. 

The  Government  was  fated  to  sustain  some  severe  defeats  on 
several  different  questions.  One  of  these  was  on  the  match  tax. 
The  abolition  of  purchase  in  the  army  made  the  estimated  ex- 
penditure much  larger  than  it  had  been  in  time  of  peace,  and  it 
was  proposed  in  the  budget  of  this  year  to  meet  the  additional 
expense  by  means  of  a  tax  upon  matches.  There  was  a  general 
outcry  against  this  impost,  which  threatened,  indeed,  the  whole 
trade.  Mr.  Lowe,  who  was  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  finally 
found  himself  compelled  to  abandon  this  scheme,  and  to  substi- 
tute an  increase  in  the  income  tax  for  it.  Several  bills  on  finan- 
cial subjects  were  abandoned  by  the  Government  when  their 
failure  became  apparent. 

A  motion  which  proposed  to  secure  the  uninclosed  portions  of 
Epping  Forest  as  an  open  space  for  the  enjoyment  of  the  people 
of  the  metropolis,  was  opposed  by  the  Government,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone stating  that  the  Government  had  secured  one  thousand 
acres  of  the  inclosure  as  a  pleasure  ground  for  the  public ;  but 
the  motion  was  carried  by  a  considerable  majority. 

The  loss  of  the  Captain  and  the  Magcera  caused  the  Admiralty 
to  be  gravely  censured,  but  the  conduct  of  the  Board  was  elab- 
orately defended.  This  was  the  last  action  of  interest  on  the 
part  of  the  Government  or  the  Opposition,  and  the  session  came 
to  an  end  early  in  August. 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry.  295 

During  the  recess,  Mr.  Gladstone  was  again  called  upon  to 
disavow  membership  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  "While  he  was  for 
a  long  time,  perhaps,  the  most  popular  of  all  Englishmen,  he 
was  well  hated  by  a  small  portion  of  his  countrymen,  who  nev- 
er lost  an  opportunity  of  villifying  him.  The  reader  will  find 
an  instance  of  one  of  these  haters  by  reading  Jenkin's  work  on 
the  subject  of  the  great  statesman's  life  5  if  that  author's  state- 
ments and  sentiments  are  not  here  quoted,  it  is  because  they 
have  not  the  value  which  criticisms  uttered  at  the  time  of  any 
particular  action  must  have,  and  do  not  seem  to  be  in  other  re- 
spects worthy  of  the  space  which  they  would  require. 

The  question  as  to  whether  he  was  a  member  of  the  Catholic 
Church  was  put  to  him  in  a  letter  by  Mr.  Whalley,  on  behalf  of 
his  constituents  of  Peterborough.  Mr.  Gladstone,  in  reply, 
pointed  out  the  insult  which  was  contained  in  this  question; 
since  it  presupposed  that  he  had  systematically  concealed  his  re- 
ligion, professing  to  belong  to  another  church.  He  concluded  ; 
"  If  I  have  said  this  much  upon  the  present  subject,  it  has  been 
out  of  personal  respect  to  you.  For  I  am  entirely  convinced 
that  while  the  question  you  have  put  to  me  is  in  truth  an  insult- 
ing one,  you  have  put  it  only  from  having  failed  to  notice  its 
true  character,  since  I  have  observed  during  my  experience  of 
many  years  that,  even  when  you  undertake  the  most  startling 
duties,  you  perform  them  in  the  gentlest  and  most  considerate 
manner."  The  last  sentence  irresistibly  recalls  one  of  Disrael's 
happiest  epigrammatic  speeches  or  letters.  The  member  for  Pe- 
terborough was  generally  and  severely  condemned  for  permit- 
ting himself  to  be  made  the  mouthpiece  of  such  an  uncalled  for 
inquisition  into  Mr.  Gladstone's  religious  opinions. 

A  speech  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  made  during  this  recess  has  a 
peculiar  interest,  in  connection  with  the  attitude  which  he  after- 
wards took  upon  a  similar  question  j  and  his  course  upon  this 
subject  shows  that  capacity  for  growth  which  is  manifested  by 
few  statesmen,  unless  they  be  of  the  highest  rank.  In  receiving 
the  Freedom  of  the  City  of  Aberdeen,  he  alluded  to  the  cry  of 
the  Irish  for  Home  Eule.  He  said  that  he  did  not  quite  know 
what  was  meant  by  Home  Eule  ;  but  he  was  glad  to  know  em- 
phatically that  it  did  not  mean  a  dismemberment  of  the  Em- 
pire ;  and  he  hoped  that  all  who  heard  him  felt  the  same,  and 
intended  that  the  United  Kingdom  should  remain  united.  The 
Irish  people  were  more  or  less  liable  to  become  from  time  to 


29C  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

time  the  victims  of  this  or  that  political  delusion;  but  there  was 
nothing  that  Ireland  had  asked  which  this  Parliament  had  re- 
fused. There  were  no  inequalities  between  England  and  Ire- 
land, he  maintained,  except  such  as  were  in  favor  of  the  latter. 
But  if  the  doctrines  of  Home  Rule  were  to  be  admitted  with  re- 
spect to  Ireland,  he  did  not  see  why  they  should  not  be  admit- 
ted with  respect  to  Scotland  and  Wales,  the  latter  especially  as 
the  people  generally  spoke  the  national  tongue.  Ireland  might 
be  conciliated,  but  Parliament  had  a  higher  duty  to  be  perform- 
ed than  was  included  in  conciliation ;  it  had  to  do  its  duty,  and 
if  this  were  done,  and  it  set  itself  right  with  the  national  con- 
science, with  the  opinion  of  the  world,  and  with  the  principles 
of  justice,  its  position  would  bo  invulnerable,  whether  Ireland 
were  conciliated  or  not.  To  this  speech  even  the  most  inveter- 
ate Home  Ruler  can  give  assent,  affirming  that  when  this  is  done 
Ireland  will  bo  satisfied;  that  the  opinion  of  the  world,  and 
the  principles  of  justice  require  all  that  Ireland  demands;  and 
that  if  the  national  conscience  fell  short,  so  much  the  worse  for 
the  regulators  of  it. 

Mr.  Gladstone  defended  the  course  of  the  Government  in  sev- 
eral other  speeches  during  the  recess  ;  but  the  very  fact  that  it 
required  defense  was  in  itself  significant.  The  popularity  of  the 
Ministry  was  declining;  many  of  the  soberer  Whigs  were  alarm- 
ed at  tho  reforms  which  had  been  carried  through.  Tho  more 
conservative  members  of  the  party  were  out  of  breath  with  the 
rapidity  with  which  they  had  been  hurried  along  from  the  abo- 
lition of  one  abuse  to  another;  and  they  had  begun  to  think 
that  the  Premier  was  a  dangerously  brilliant  statesman.  It  was 
this  feeling  which  induced  a  considerable  number  of  his  o  ?vn 
constituents  of  Greenwich  to  draw  up  a  petition  requesting  him  to 
resign  his  seat  for  that  borough.  A  meeting  was  called  at  the 
Lecture  Hall  in  support  of  this  requisition  ;  but  the  Liberals  re- 
pudiated all  connection  with  the  movement,  and  after  a  scene 
of  considerable  violence,  the  tables  were  turned  upon  the  dis- 
satisfied Whigs,  and  a  vote  of  confidence  was  passed,  which  was 
received  with  a  volley  of  cheers  for  the  distinguished  representa- 
tive. 

Perhaps  the  reason  of  this  decrease  in  popularity  was  due  to 
the  elements  of  which  the  Cabinet  was  composed.  Mr.  Lowe 
and  Mr.  Ayrton  particularly,  were  hard  to  deal  with ;  for  al- 
though they  were  both  men  of  unquestioned  ability,  they  were 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry.  297 

not  skillful  in  reading  the  popular  pulse.  However  able  were 
the  measures  which  they  advocated,  they  were  almost  sure  to 
be  such  as  could  not  by  any  possibility  be  carried.  To  make 
him  responsible  for  the  actions  of  such  subordinates  was  to  im- 
pose upon  the  First  Minister  of  the  Crown  a  burden  such  as  no 
man  could  bear  for  many  months. 

During  October  of  this  year  Mr.  Gladstone  made  his  famous 
speech  on  Blackheath,  to  an  audience  of  some  twenty  thousand 
persons.  This  address,  which  was  in  the  main  a  review  of  the 
history  of  the  last  Parliamentary  session,  occupied  two  hours  in 
its  delivery.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  introduced  to  the  vast  assem- 
bly by  Mr.  Angerstein,  but  such  was  the  confusion  that  not  one 
word  of  the  introduction  could  be  heard  ten  feet  away.  There 
was  loud  cheering  when  Mr.  Gladstone  stood  forth ;  but  in  the 
intervals  there  was  heard  a  steady,  persistent  hissing.  As  he 
seemed  about  to  speak,  an  intense  silence  fell  upon  the  vast 
crowd ;  but  the  first  word  that  ho  uttered  was  a  signal  for  a  fear- 
ful din.  From  all  around  the  skirts  of  the  crowd  arose  some 
ihing  between  a  groan  and  a  howl;  while,  as  if  to  drown  this, 
the  Liberals  present  again  began  to  cheer.  Still  in  the  intervals 
between  the  cheering  was  heard  the  hissing.  At  last  there  came 
to  them  something  of  a  kense  of  shame,  at  not  allowing  this 
man  to  be  heard  in  his  own  defense.  While  the  battle  had  raged 
so  fiercely  between  the  two  conflicting  sounds,  Mr.  Gladstone 
had  stood  looking  straight  at  the  excited  crowd — calm,  resolute, 
patient.  Perhaps  it  was  this  bearing  which  gained  him  a  hearing 
at  last.  At  any  rate  the  confusion  subsided,  and  after  that  ho 
may  be  said  to  have  had  it  all  his  own  way.  Of  course,  there 
were  instances  when  he  was  interrupted  by  their  cries,  but 
they  were  comparatively  few.  When  at  length  the  speech  was 
over,  and  the  question  was  put,  it  being  substantially  whether 
Mr.  Gladstone  had  cleared  away  from  the  minds  of  his  constit- 
uents the  fog  of  prejudice  and  ill-feeling  that  unquestionably 
encircled  him  and  his  Ministry,  the  affirmative  reply  was  given 
in  bursts  of  tumultuous  cheering,  as  earnest  as  ever  greeted  and 
satisfied  any  political  leader.  He  had  thrown  himself  upon  tho 
sympathies  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  and  their  verdict  had 
not  disappointed  him. 

This  unpopularity  of  the  Ministry  did  not  mean  that  they  had 
deserved  the  censure  of  the  people.  The  Liberal  Government 
bad  come  into  existence  because  the  people  demanded  that  cer- 


Mr.  Gladstone  Reading  the  Lessons  at  Haioarden  Church. 


298 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry.  299 

tain  abuses  should  be  reformed,  and  tbe  Conservatives  were 
unwilling  to  carry  through  the  measures  which  would  accom- 
plish this.  The  Liberals  had  made  the  reforms  which  were 
demanded  ;  but  they  were  now  as  far  ahead  of  public  opinion 
as  the  Conservatives  had  been  behind  it.  Nor  was  this  all ; 
many  changes  necessarily  weaken  every  Government  ;  for  there 
are  none  so  necessary  to  the  great  body  of  the  people  but  what 
they  aro  distasteful  to  individuals,  and  will  be  opposed  by  them. 
The  Gladstone  Ministry  had  offended  many;  some  by  this  re- 
form, some  by  that;  their  day  was  beginning  to  draw  to  a  close; 
high  noon  was  long  past. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THE  FIRST  GLADSTONE  MINISTRY. 
(CONTINUED.) 

Dangerous  Illness  of  the  Prince  of  Wales — Trouble  on  the  Liquor  Question — 
Gladstone's  Sharp  Retort  on  Disraeli — Army  of  Titmouses — Ballot  Bill 
Again  Introduced — Third  Attempt  to  Settle  the  Irish  Question — Justice  to 
Ireland — Gladstone  Determines  to  Resign — Important  Changes  in  the 
Ministry — Disraeli's  Manifesto — Circular  to  the  Liberal  Members  of  Par- 
liament— Bill  for  the  Regulation  of  Public  Worship — Endowed  Schools  — 
Gladstone's  Retirement  from  the  Leadership  of  the  Liberal  Party — Pre- 
paring for  New  Legislation — Active  Interest  in  Public  Affaire. 

'HE  year  1872  began  with  a  Thanksgiving  Service  in  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral,  for  the  recovery  of  the  Prince  of  Wales 
from  that  attack  of  typhoid  fever  which  had  threatened 
his  life  the  previous  autumn.  This  royal  progress  some 
what  drew  off  the  public  attention  from  the  proceedings  of  Par- 
liament, for  a  time;  and  perhaps  the  new  popularity  of  the  heir 
to  the  throne  had  something  to  do  with  the  fact  that  there  was 
no  specially  popular  statesman  at  this  time.  There  must  alwaya 
be  some  idol  for  the  people  ;  Gladstone  had  lately  held  that  po- 
sition, but  had  lost  it;  Disraeli  was  the  man  who  would  natural- 
ly have  stepped  into  the  place  thus  vacated,  had  the  circumstan- 
ces not  put  forward  a  figure  encompassed  with  the  fictitious  splen- 
dor of  royalty. 

It  was  for  this  reason  that,  while  there  were  many  to  predict 
the  downfall  of  the  Government  during  the  session  of  1872, 
there  were  none  who  were  able  to  point  to  a  combination  which 
was  strong  enough  to  hold  its  own  after  the  displacement  of 
Gladstone's  Ministry.  As  a  journal  of  the  time  remarked,  it  was 
a  "  spiteful  problem  in  maxima  and  minima — how  to  inflict  on  the 
Government  the  maximum  of  discredit  with  the  minimum  of  im- 
mediate result.  The  great  question  now  is  :  Can  the  Govern- 
ment, even  with  the  cordial  help  of  its  many  open  enemies  and 
insincere  friends,  manage  to  receive  the  tokens  of  the  accumula 

800 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry.  301 

ted  dislikes  of  so  many  different  sections,  and  yet  survive  the 
session  ?" 

At  the  very  beginning  of  the  session,  the  struggle  began.  In 
his  speech  upon  the  Address  to  the  Throne,  Mr.  Disraeli  re- 
marked upon  the  frequent  expositions  of  the  Government's  pol- 
icy which  had  been  made  during  the  recess.  "We  really  have 
had  no  time  to  forget  anything,"  he  complained;  "Her  Majesty's 
Ministers  may  have  been  said  during  the  last  six  months  to  have 
lived  in  a  blaze  of  apology."  He  again  brought  up  the  question  of 
the  Admiralty's  responsibility  for  the  loss  of  two  vessels;  he 
found  fault  with  the  Treaty  of  Washington,  and  demanded  to  be  in- 
formed if  the  Americans  agreed  to  the  interpretation  which  the 
English  Government  had  putupon  it;  he  referred  sarcastically  to 
the  third  branch  of  the  Upas  Tree  of  Ireland  ;  and  condemned 
the  Government  for  preferring  the  Ballot  Act  to  the  Mines  Regu- 
lation Act  and  important  sanitary  legislation. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  answer  was  of  course  a  justification  of  the 
Government.  The  concessions  that  had  been  made  by  England 
in  the  treaty  of  Washington  were  justifiable,  and  the  Americans 
had  by  their  silence  accepted  the  interpretation  which  the  En- 
glish Government  put  upon  certain  clauses,  which  allowed  room 
for  diiference  of  opinion.  The  treaty  was  not  ambiguous  in  any 
of  its  parts;  and  there  was  a  friendly  feeling  between  the  two 
countries.  The  Leader  of  the  Opposition  was  assured  that  he 
was  mistaken  in  regard  to  his  assumption  about  Irish  education, 
which  would  be  taken  up  by  Parliament  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment;  and  he  was  assured  likewise  that  the  Government 
would  furnish  every  assistance  in  the  investigation  of  the  charges 
against  the  Admiralty. 

Two  appointments  made  under  the  authority  of  Mr.  Gladstone 
gave  rise  to  much  debate,  and  finally  showed  how  great  was  the 
loss  of  strength  which  the  Government  had  suffered  since  com- 
ing into  power.  It  was  desired  to  place  Sir  Eobert  Collier,  the 
Attorney  General,  on  the  bench  of  a  new  Court  of  Appeal,  the 
Judicial  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council.  But  for  this  position 
none  were  eligible  except  those  who  had  been  judge  of  one  of 
the  ordinary  courts.  To  qualify  him  in  this  particular,  he  was 
appointed  to  a  Puisne  Judgeship  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas. 
There  was  no  question  as  to  his  real  fitness  for  the  position ;  it 
was  admitted  that  he  had  helped  the  Government  out  of  a  diffi- 
culty by  taking  an  appointment  which  several  judges  had  de- 


302  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

dined,  and  which  had  not  quite  such  a  position  as  that  which  the 
traditions  of  his  office  entitled  him  to  expect.  But  it  seemed  to 
many  as  if  it  were  something  of  a  trick,  this  act  which  passed 
him  through  one  court  in  order  to  give  him  a  technical  qualifica- 
tion for  another.  The  Premier  was  accused  of  casuistry,  of  Jesu- 
itism ;  and  the  whispers  that  he  was  at  heart  a  Catholic  were  re- 
newed at  this  evidence  of  his  following  in  the  footsteps  of  the 
famous  order.  So  strong  was  the  feeling  that  a  vote  of  censure 
was  moved  in  both  Houses;  the  Lords  rejected  it  by  eighty-nine 
to  eighty-seven,  which  was  doing  fairly  well  for  the  Conserva- 
tive Chamber;  but  when  it  came  before  the  House  of  Commons 
upon  a  similar  proposition,  the  Government's  majority  was  found 
to  have  dwindled  to  twenty-seven. 

Another  appointment  was  of  a  somewhat  similar  character.  A 
clergyman  was  to  be  appointed  to  a  living  which  mu,°t  be  filled 
by  a  member  of  the  Convocation  of  Oxford  ;  the  Rev.W.  "W.  Har- 
vey, a  graduate  of  Cambridge,  was  made  a  member  of  this  body 
by  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  was  then  presented  to  the  Rec- 
tory of  Ewelme.  As  in  the  former  case,  there  was  no  question 
of  fitness;  the  technical  qualification  had  been  provided,  in  or- 
der that  a  man  possessing  all  other  qualifications  might  be  ap- 
pointed ;  but  Mr.  Gladstone  was  criticised  as  severely  as  if  he 
had  given  the  places  to  men  for  whom  he  had  provided  the  only 
qualifications  they  possessed. 

The  Government  had  got  into  trouble  on  the  liquor  question. 
The  United  Kingdom  Alliance  for  the  suppression  of  the  Liquor 
Traffic  was  represented  in  Parliament  by  Sir  Wilfred  Lawson, 
who  advocated  the  doctrine  of  Prohibition  in  speeches  which 
never  failed  to  amuse  and  finally  interest  his  listeners.  At  the 
instance  of  the  Alliance,  an  effort  was  made  to  regulate  the  trade 
in  liquors ;  but  the  measure  which  was  proposed  by  the  Govern- 
ment pleased  neither  side ;  the  Prohibitionists  looked  disdain- 
fully upon  it  as  a  half-measure,  and  the  liquor-dealers  of  all 
classes  saw  in  it  only  a  renewal  of  that  hostility  to  them  and 
their  trade  which  Mr.  Gladstone  had  already  shown,  when  he 
advocated  that  innovation  upon  the  traditional  ways  of  England 
by  which  light  wines  were  allowed  to  be  sold  by  grocers  and 
pastry-cooks. 

There  was  a  war  of  repartee,  in  which  Mr.  Gladstone  was  not 
the  vanquished,  when  Mr.  Ayrton's  bill  for  the  Regulation  of 
Parks  came  before  the  House.  Mr.  Hardy  stigmatized  the  Gov- 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 


303 


wrnment's  efforts  to  throw  the  responsibility  of  certain  by-laws  for 
the  parks  upon  Parliament  as  a  cowardly  proceeding ;  whereupon 
Mr.  Gladstone  rebuked  him  for  bringing  an  acrid  and  venomous 
spirit  into  the  debate,  and  said  that  it  was  the  late  Government 
whose  bungling  and  feeble  conduct  had  led  to  the  present  diffi- 
culties. This  brought  Mr.  Disraeli  to  his  feet,  who  accused  Mr. 
Gladstone  of  sitting  sullen  and  silent  when  the  question  was  before 
discussed,  and  only  expressing  himself  to  the  crowd  which  gathered 
about  his  residence.  Mr.  Gladstone  retorted  with  a  quotation 
from  that  speech  of  Sheri- 
dan's in  which  the  brilliant 
wit  accuses  his  opponent  01 
drawing  upon  his  memory 
for  his  jokes  and  his  imagi- 
nation for  his  facts ;  and  ad- 
vised Mr.  Disraeli,  before 
he  accused  others  of  forget- 
ting the  course  they  had 
formerly  pursued,  to  prac- 
tice what  he  preached,  and 
be  sure  that  his  accusations 
were  well  founded.  The 
shot  told  home,  and  the 
cheers  and  laughter  of  the 
House  were  renewed  when 
Mr.  Gladstone  told  Col.  Gil- 
pin,  a  member  of  the  Op- 
position who  had  renewed 
the  attack,  that  he  did  not 
think  the  imagination  which 
prevailed  on  the  front  bench  had  extended  so  far  back  as  the 
third  and  had  infected  that  row  of  members. 

The  session  of  1872  is  remarkable  for  one  of  the  most  tumult- 
ous  scenes  which  ever  took  place  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Sir 
Charles  Dilke  had,  during  the  previous  autumn,  been  making  him- 
self notorious  as  an  advocate  of  Republicanism.  He  had  during 
that  time  been  the  best  abused  man  in  Great  Britain  ;  the  comic 
papers  and  theatrical  burlesques  had  made  free  with  his  name;  the 
telegraph  had  carried  his  doings  everywhere;  newspaper  corres- 
pondents had  interviewed  him,  and  then  held  him  up  to  ridicule 
as  the  "  President  of  England."  When  the  Prince  of  Wales  was 


Lord  Littleton. 


304  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

taken  sick,  the  abuse  which  was  heaped  upon  Dilke  was  such  as 
might  have  been  merited  if  he  had  had  a  hand  in  filling  the  roy- 
al system  with  the  germs  of  disease.  And  yet,  he  was  not  so  far 
ahead  of  the  time.  The  countries  of  Europe,  which  had  at  first 
looked  upon  the  establishment  of  the  American  Republic  as  an 
experiment  which  was  doomed  to  speedy  failure,  had  come  to 
have  their  doubts  about  it  when  fifty  years  and  more  passed  by, 
and  the  United  States  still  flourished.  An  eminent  French  poli- 
tical economist  had  declared  that  the  only  test  which  it  had  not 
stood  was  a  great  war;  if  it  should  be  thus  tried,  and  should 
come  out  triumphant  from  the  ordeal,  there  was  no  other  dangor. 
The  war  had  come;  the  very  earth  had  yawned,  as  if  to  engulf 
the  structure,  which  was  shaken  to  its  foundations ;  but  that 
structure  stood  firm ;  and  the  seven  years  which  had  passed  since 
the  earthquake  ceased  had  seen  that  "bloody  chasm,"  about 
which  we  have  heard  so  much,  gradually  closing.  It  was  appar- 
ent then  that  a  republic  was  possible,  and  the  recent  events  in 
France  had  led  the  English  to  think  a  European  republic  xnight 
be  as  stable  as  the  American.  There  has  always  been  more  or 
less  republican  sentiment  on  the  surface  of  the  radicalism  of 
Great  Britain ;  and  Dilke  had  but  crystallized  this  in  his  own 
mind,  and  given  it  expression. 

He  had  been  challenged  to  repeat  in  the  House  of  Commons 
the  statements  which  he  had  made  in  the  country ;  so  in  March 
he  brought  on  a  motion  for  inquiring  into  the  manner  in  which 
the  income  and  allowance  of  the  Crown  are  expended.  What- 
ever we  may  think  of  the  wisdom  of  the  man  who  thus  tackled, 
almost  single-handed,  a  system  which  had  been  growing  for 
more  than  a  thousand  years,  and  which  limitation  and  change 
had  but  rendered  more  stable,  we  cannot  but  admire  his  courage 
in  thus  facing  the  House  where  all,  save  two  or  three,  were  bit- 
terly opposed  to  what  he  advocated.  He  faced  his  antagonists 
with  dogged  calmness ;  he  brought  forward  his  array  of  facts 
and  figures,  and  presented  them  with  well-arranged  arguments; 
but  his  quiet,  dry  and  labored  style  was  far  from  being  eloquent, 
and  the  House  began  to  grow  apathetic  before  he  was  nearly 
through. 

The  duty  of  answering  such  a  demand  of  course  devolved  up- 
on the  First  Minister  of  the  Crown,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  did  so 
with  a  zeal  and  warmth  which  surprised  those  who  thought  him 
half  a  Kadical,  and  almost  a  sympathizer  with  Sir  Charles  Dilke 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 


305 


Limself.  !N"o  one  thought  that  he  could  be  so  passionately  mer- 
ciless as  he  showed  himself  to  be.  He  said  that  a  detailed  refutal 
of  the  charges  against  the  Crown's  extravagant  expenditure  would 
be  impossible  without  some  previous  notice ;  but  he  asserted  that 
the  information  now  before  the  House  in  another  form  would 
show  that  the  Civil  List  had  been  largely  reduced  during  this 
reign  as  compared  with  the  two  preceding  it.  He  concluded  by 
asking  the  House  to  reject  the  motion  without  further  discus- 
sion. 

The  Speaker  had  not  ruled  against  the  motion  as  irregular, 
and  the  mover  and  sec- 
onder were  therefore  en- 
titled to  be  heard.  But 
when  Mr.  Auberon  Her- 
bert arose  to  second  it, 
the  sceno  which  ensued 
was,  it  is  to  bo  hoped,  one 
which  was  never  witness- 
ed before  and  will  never 
be  repeated.  The  author 
of  a  noted  novel  has  told 
us  how  Tittlebat  Titmouse 
defeated  a  measure 
against  which  his  whole 
party  was  powerless,  sim- 
ply by  his  imitations  of 
the  crowing  of  a  cock, 
which  caused  a  diversion 
and  gave  the  members 
time  to  alter  their  minds. 
There  was  a  small  army 
army  of  Titmouses  present,  to  all  appearance  ;  and  the  crowing, 
hooting,  groaning,  hissing,  howling  and  yelling,  drowned  the 
voice  of  the  unfortunate  speaker  completely.  Nothing  daunted, 
he  waited  until  the  cries  had  lulled  sufficiently  to  permit  him  to 
be  heard,  though  still  with  difficulty,  when  he  apologized  for 
Sir  Charles  Dilke,  who  had  been  far  from  wishing  to  make  a 
personal  attack  upon  the  Sovereign,  and  announced  that  he, 
too,  preferred  a  republican  form  of  government.  Here  a  con- 
siderable number  of  members  arose  and  left  the  House,  while 
those  who  remained  renewed  the  noises  which  had  before  pre- 

20 


Sir  Charles  Dilke. 


306  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

vented  his  being  heard.  Mr.  Herbert  sent  out  for  a  glass  of  wa- 
ter with  as  much  sang  froid  as  if  his  speech  had  been  greeted 
with  cheers,  and  continued  speaking;  but  the  remainder  consis- 
ted merely  of  disjointed  sentences. 

Many  times  during  the  period  that  he  remained  upon  his  feet 
he  was  interrupted  by  demands  that  the  House  be  counted.  No 
less  than  three  counts  were  taken,  but  each  time  it  was  found 
that  there  were  more  than  forty  members  present.  At  last  the 
Speaker's  attention  was- blandly  called  to  the  fact  that  there 
were  strangers  present.  This,  of  course,  included  the  reporters; 
and  while  the  Speaker  can  be  as  blind  as  he  pleases  to  their 
presence  upon  all  other  occasions,  the  instant  a  member  of  the 
House  informs  him  that  there  are  others  than  members  present, 
he  is  bound  to  order  their  expulsion.  The  remainder  of  the 
debate  was  then  without  witness  save  the  members  themselves  ; 
and  the  absence  of  the  outsiders  did  not  conduce  to  the  order- 
liness of  the  debate.  The  question  was  at  last  put,  and  the  re- 
sult showed  2  ayes  to  276  noes,  those  members  who  had  left  the 
House  having  returned  in  the  meantime. 

The  Ballot  Bill  was  again  introduced  this  session.  An  amend- 
ment was  proposed,  which  was  carried  against  the  Government ; 
but  a  modified  form  of  it  being  accepted  by  the  Ministry,  the 
bill  finally  prevailed  and  went  up  to  the  Lords.  It  was  there 
amended  and  sent  back  to  the  Commons,  where  the  changes 
were  at  first  hotly  contested  ;  but  eventually  a  compromise  was 
effected,  and  this  important  measure,  effecting  a  complete  change 
in  the  system  of  voting,  became  a  law.  Mr.  Gladstone  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  the  first  elections  conducted  under  the  law 
which  had  been  one  of  his  darling  projects,  of  the  most  orderly 
and  satisfactory  character. 

But  while  such  an  important  measure  excited  little  comment 
in  the  country  at  large,  there  was  another  subject  on  which  the 
popular  feeling  was  at  white  heat.  This  was  the  Alabama  claims, 
as  presented  before  the  Arbitration  Commission  at  Geneva. 
Much  to  the  surprise  of  the  English,  it  was  found  that  the  Uni- 
ted States  claimed  compensation  for  indirect  losses  as  well  as 
direct;  and  Mr.  Gladstone  was  violently  assailed  for  his  assur- 
ances that  the  treaty  permitted  but  one  interpretation.  It  was 
only  another  instance  of  his  nice  distinctions  being  misunder- 
stood by  intellects  of  less  subtle  keenness. 

The  Commissioners  finally  decided  that  the  British  Government 


307 


308  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

was  not  justly  liable  for  claims  for  indirect  damages,  hut  was  to 
pay  for  direct  injuries  inflicted  by  the  Alabama,  the  Florida 
and  the  Shenandoah.  The  sum  total  awarded  to  the  United 
States  was  a  little  more  than  one-third  of  the  original  claim. 

The  session  of  1872  was  not  a  barren  one,  as  far  as  the  enact- 
ment of  laws  relating  to  domestic  aff&irs  was  concerned.  Not 
only  the  Ballot  Act,  but  various  others,  relating  to  the  regula- 
lation  of  mines,  the  adulteration  of  food,  the  public  health,  and 
licensing,  owed  their  final  enactment  to  this  session. 

Fifteen  yearg  after  the  date  of  which  we  are  writing,  one  of 
the  great  London  dailies  styled  the  Irish  Question  "  the  Old 
Man  of  the  Sea  of  Parliament."  The  comparison  is  no  inapt  one, 
and  is  unfortunately  likely  to  be  applicable  for  a  long  time  to 
come.  The  Gladstone  Ministry  had  made  two  great  attempts  to- 
settle  it,  but  there  was  a  third  task  to  be  undertaken  before  they 
should  have  accomplished  all  that  had  been  promised  in  their 
original  programme. 

Feb.  13th,  the  Government  introduced  the  bill  which  it  was 
hoped  would  hew  down  the  third  branch  of  the  Upas  Tree.  It 
dealt  altogether  with  the  state  of  education  in  Ireland.  In  his 
speech  introducing  the  bill,  Mr.  Gladstone  showed  that  so  far 
from  the  Queen's  Colleges  which  had  been  established,  being  the 
means  of  increasing  educational  facilities,  they  seemed  rather  to 
have  alienated  the  Irish  still  further;  for  the  number  of  collegi- 
ate students  in  1872  was  actually  less  than  it  had  been  in  1832. 
The  Eoman  Catholic  population  of  Ireland  contributed  but  one- 
eighth  of  the  whole  number  of  students,  and  of  these  not  more 
than  one-half  would  in  England  be  ranked  as  university  stud- 
ents. The  bill  provided  for  the  abolition  of  all  religious  tests; 
for  the  incorporation  of  Dublin  University  and  the  union  of  the 
Queen's  Colleges  with  it;  for  the  maintenance  of  all  the  chairs 
usual  in  such  institutions  of  learning  which  were  not  incompati- 
ble with  perfect  religious  equality  for  the  students  ;  this  latter 
exception  excluding,  as  was  specially  stated,  chairs  in  theology, 
moral  philosophy,  and  modern  history.  The  Government  hoped 
that  this  bill  would  conciliate  the  Catholics  by  the  concessions 
which  were  made  to  them,  and  the  English  Liberals  would  be 
pleased  with  its  moderation.  But  as  is  usually  the  case  when  the 
attempt  is  made  to  please  two  parties  of  opposite  opinions  by 
one  and  the  same  measure,  each  one  saw  what  the  other  was  in- 
tended to  see ;  the  Catholic  Bishops  denounced  the  measure,  and 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry.  309 

while  they  did  not  decline  what  it  offered,  let  it  be  known  that 
they  wanted  much  more;  the  Catholic  members,  who  had  been 
expected  to  be  its  warmest  supporters,  were  its  bitterest  oppos- 
ers;  and  the  Liberals  objected  strongly  to  the  proposed  omissions 
from  the  curriculum. 

At  the  request  of  Mr.  Disraeli,  the  second  reading  of  this  bill 
was  postponed  until  the  beginning  of  March ;  as  the  opposition 
desired  time  to  consider  so  important  and  complicated  a  meas- 
ure. It  was  then  demanded  that  the  Government  should  specify 
the  members  of  the  governing  body  which  the  bill  proposed  for 
the  university ;  but  this  was,  as  Mr.  Gladstone  pointed  out,  im- 
possible; as  the  positions  could  not  be  offered  until  the  bill  had 
made  some  progress  in  committee,  nor  until  there  was  some  pros- 
pect that  there  would  be  positions  to  accept.  The  opposition  to 
the  bill  was  remarkable  both  for  the  variety  of  the  arguments 
and  the  diversity  of  the  parties  represented  by  those  who  spoke 
against  it.  The  debate  ended  with  speeches  by  Mr.  Disraeli  and 
Mr.  Gladstone.  The  ex-Premier's  oration  was  a  brilliant  one, 
though  not  always  relevant  to  the  subject;  it  called  forth  vehe- 
ment cheering  from  the  members  on  the  Opposition  benches.  Be- 
fore this  had  fairly  subsided,  Mr.  Gladstone  arose  to  reply.  His 
powerful  speech  was  a  summing  up  of  the  arguments  pro  and  con, 
and  a  strengthening  of  those  for  the  bill,  with  an  appeal  to  the 
House  for  the  justice  which  was  demanded.  In  his  eyes,  it  was 
all  that  was  necessary  to  satisfy  Ireland  ;  all  that  justice  demand- 
ed for  her;  and  so  the  conclusion  of  his  speech  assured  them  : 

"  To  mete  out  justice  to  Ireland,  according  to  the  best  view 
that  with  human  infirmity  we  could  form,  has  been  the  work,  I 
will  almost  say  the  sacred  work  of  this  Parliament.  Having  put 
our  hand  to  the  plow,  let  us  not  turn  back.  Let  not  what  we 
think  the  fault  or  perverseness  of  those  whom  we  are  attempting 
to  assist  have  the  slightest  effect  in  turning  us  even  by  a  hair's 
breadth  from  the  path  on  which  we  have  entered.  As  we  nave 
begun,  so  let  us  persevere  even  until  the  end,  and  with  firm  and 
resolute  hand  let  us  efface  from  the  law  and  practice  of  this 
country  the  last — for  I  believe  it  is  the  last — of  the  religious  and 
social  grievances  of  Ireland." 

All  the  eloquence  of  this  speech,  however,  was  not  sufficient 
to  convince  those  who  were  opposed  to  it;  and  the  division 
showed  that  the  Government  was  in  a  minority  of  three.  Up- 
on this  defeat  they  had  not  counted,  as  the  bill  had  at  first  met 


310  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

with  a  favorable  reception ;  even  Mr.  Horsman,  who  had  vio- 
lently opposed  it  on  the  second  reading,  had  in  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Lowe,  written  immediately  after  the  first  presentation  of  the 
bill,  spoken  of  it  in  the  most  favorable  terms;  the  letter  was 
read  to  the  House  during  the  debate,  but  seems  to  have  pro- 
duced no  eifect  upon  the  Opposition.  Questioned  some  years  af- 
terward regarding  this  measure,  Mr.  Gladstone  said  that  consid- 
ering the  extremely  favorable  reception  with  which  the  bill  had 
met  at  the  outset,  he  was  most  emphatically  astonished  at  its 
ultimate  fate. 

Although  the  majority  of  the  Opposition  had  been  so  small, 
the  importance  of  the  measure  which  the  Government  had  wish- 
ed to  carry  was  such  that  Mr.  Gladstone  determined  to  resign; 
and  he  did  so  at  once.  But  then  arose  a  peculiar  difficulty.  Dis- 
raeli was  his  only  possible  successor  ;  but  it  would  have  been  im- 
possible for  him  to  form  a  Government,  with  the  majority  of  the 
House  of  Commons  opposed  to  him,  as  it  undoubtedly  was;  a 
few  days  later,  therefore,  Mr.  Gladstone  announced  that  he  and 
his  colleagues  had  consented  to  resume  the  positions  which  they 
had  felt  obliged  to  resign.  Mr.  Disraeli's  refusal  to  accept  office 
had  been  unconditional,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  contended  that  his 
action  was  contrary  to  precedent  and  parliamentary  usage.  Mr. 
Disraeli  replied  that  a  considerable  part  of  the  majority  against 
the  Government  in  the  late  contest  consisted  of  Liberals,  with 
whom  he  had  no  bond  of  union  whatever.  A  Government  could 
not  well  dissolve  without  entering  upon  its  duties,  and  theiv  was 
at  present  nothing  to  dissolve  upon  ;  such  a  course  required  some 
definite  policy,  to  be  submitted  to  the  electors  for  their  decision. 
Mr.  Gladstone,  he  said,  had  resigned  upon  very  inadequate 
grounds;  and  his  return  to  office  was  the  best  possible  solution 
of  the  difficulty.  He  had  had  some  experience  of  the  difficulty 
of  carrying  on  a  Government  in  the  face  of  a  majority  opposed 
to  it,  and  was  not  anxious  to  try  it  again. 

Mr.  Fawcett,  who  had  strenuously  opposed  the  Irish  Uni- 
versity Bill,  brought  forward  a  measure  relating  to  the  same  sub- 
ject, during  this  session  ;  the  changes  made  were  such  that  it  be- 
came simply  an  abolition  of  religious  tests  before  it  was  carried. 
There  were  several  bills  relating  to  financial  measures,  which 
were  carried  by  the  Government.  Mr.  Miall  pressed  the  Bill  for 
the  Disestablishment  of  the  English  Church,  which  was  opposed 
by  Mr.  Gladstone  in  the  strongest  speech  made  during  tho  do- 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry.  311 

bate;  and  a  proposal  to  permit  laymen  and  Dissenters  to  deliver 
sermons  in  the  churches  was  also  negatived. 

Shortly  after  the  close  of  the  session,  there  were  some  impor- 
tant changes  in  the  Ministry.  Mr.  Lowe  having  resigned  the 
post  of  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  Mr.  Gladstone  undertook 
the  double  duties  of  that  office  and  of  those  of  the  First  Lord  of 
the  Treasury.  Three  other  members  of  less  note,  Lord  Ripon,  Mr. 
Childers,  and  Mr.  Baxter,  retired  ;  and  Mr.  Bright  re-entered  it 
as  Chancellor  oi  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster. 

The  Government  grew  more  and  more  unpopular  as  time  went 
on.  Its  reforms  had  been  too  sweeping  and  sudden ;  they  had 
frightened  the  people,  whom  the  Conservatives  easily  convinced 
that  everything  was  in  danger  from  this  mania  for  change ;  the 
by-elections  which  had  taken  place  were  all  considerable  Con- 
servative victories ;  not  only  was  the  Bible  in  danger  from  the 
course  which  the  Liberal  Government  had  taken  with  regard  to 
the  Irish  Catholics,  but  the  changes  which  had  been  made  in  the 
license  law  threatened  Beer.  Says  one  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  most 
reliable  and  minute  biographers :  "The  joint  flag  of 'Beer  and 
Bible*  having  been  hoisted  the  cry  against  the  Ministry  became 
irresistible  " 

Mr  G'adstone  recognized  that  it  would  not  be  long  after  the 
meeting  of  the  new  session  before  he  would  be  compelled  to  re- 
sign ;  he  foresaw  the  difficulties  into  which  the  Opposition,  thus 
transferred  to  the  Treasury  Benches,  would  be  thrown ;  and  he 
knew  that  evil  to  the  country  would  result  from  a  weak  Govern- 
ment In  these  circumstances,  he  determined  to  appeal  to  the 
country  ,  that>  if  his  course  were  approved,  he  might  have  the 
strength  necessary  to  carry  out  his  measures  ;  if  it  were  disap- 
proved, there  would  be  fewer  obstacles  in  the  path  of  his  succes- 
ors.  He  probably  had  little  hope  of  the  result  when,  on  the  23rd 
ol  January,  he  issued  a  manifesto  to  the  electors  of  Greenwich, 
announcing  that  the  existing  Parliament  would  be  dissolved 
•without  defay;  and  writs  immediately  issued  for  a  general  elec- 
tion This  document,  which  was  an  unusually  long  one,  is  fairly 
entitled,  from  its  political  and  historical  importance,  to  rank  as 
a  state  paper.  Reviewing  the  history  of  that  Parliament,  he 
retraced  the  steps  by  which  the  Cabinet  had  proceeded,  from 
an  overwhelming  popularity  to  the  present  state  of  unpopularity  ; 
and  admitting  that  the  state  of  affairs  had  not  improved  dur- 
ing the  recess,  asked  that  the  people  should  show  that  they 


312 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry.  313 

were  with  the  Government  which  had  wrought  such  important 
reforms.  He  reviewed  the  policy  which  had  been  pursued  in 
financial  matters,  and  promised  a  reduction  of  taxation  for  the 
future.  Referring  to  the  charge  which  the  Conservatives  had  not 
hesitated  to  make,  that  the  Liberal  party  had  endangered  the  in- 
stitutions and  worried  all  the  interests  of  the  country,  he  denied 
its  truth,  and  claimed  that  if  any  were  offended,  it  was  because 
the  Government  had  honestly  tried  to  do  all  that  was  in  its 
power  to  promote  the  highest  interests  of  the  nation.  He  chal- 
lenged a  comparison  between  the  years  of  Liberal  and  the  years 
of  Tory  rule,  with  their  results. 

The  newspapers  of  the  day,  of  course,  accorded  a  reception  to 
this  address  which  varied  with  the  standpoint  generally  taken. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  News  said  that  it  was  a  policy  which  would 
revive  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Liberal  party,  and  greatly  benefit 
the  country;  on  the  other  hand,  the  Standard  declared  that  the 
policy  followed  must  be  described  as  one  of  surprise  and  in- 
trigue. 

Mr.  Disraeli  lost  no  time  in  issuing  a  manifesto  to  his  con- 
stituents, as  a  reply  to  this  address  of  Mr.  Gladstone's.  It  was 
brusque,  in  some  parts  at  least ;  and  its  flippancy  contrasted  as 
strangely  as  usual  with  the  dignity  and  gravity  of  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's style. 

Parliament  was  dissolved  the  26th  of  January,  and  the  new 
House  was  summoned  to  meet  March  5th.  Thus  there  was  but 
a  little  over  a  month  for  the  electioneering  campaign,  and  it  be- 
gan in  good  earnest.  It  was  the  first  general  election  at  which 
the  voting  was  by  ballot,  and  it  passed  off  with  orderliness  and 
peace.  The  result  showed  considerable  gains  for  the  Conserva- 
tives, that  party  having  a  majority  of  forty-six  votes  in  a  full 
house.  There  were  many  interests  arrayed  against  the  Ministry 
which  had  instituted  so  many  reforms;  and  there  were  some 
whose  support  was  given  to  the  Conservatives  in  the  hope  that 
there  would  be  legislation  for  their  benefit  as  soon  as  a  Tory 
Ministry  took  charge  of  affairs. 

As  soon  as  the  national  verdict  was  known,  Mr.  Gladstone 
placed  his  resignation  in  the  hands  of  the  Queen.  He  had  in- 
curred the  displeasure  of  the  people  of  whom  he  had  been  the 
virtual  ruler ;  but,  as  it  was  said  at  the  time  that  he  went  out  of 
office,  "a  great  many  people  entertain  towards  Mr.  Gladstone's 
Government  the  same  sort  of  sentiment  as  that  which  worthy 


314  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

Mrs.  Bertram,  in  Scott's  romance,  felt  for  the  energetic  revenue 
officer  who  would  persist  in  doing  his  duty,  instead  of  following 
the  example  of  his  predecessor,  who  sang  his  song,  and  took  his 
drink,  and  drew  his  salary  without  troubling  any  one." 

Such  being  the  offense  which  had  been  committed,  it  seems 
more  honorable  to  have  offended  than  it  would  have  been  to 
have  pleased. 

There  were  some  political  wiseacres  who  said  that  if  Mr.  Glad- 
stone had  not  dissolved,  but  had  brought  forward  a  budget  an- 
nouncing the  repeal  of  the  income  tax,  a  measure  which  he  had 
announced  as  one  which  would  be  supported  by  his  Government 
if  the  country  endorsed  its  policy,  he  would  have  regained  the 
support  of  the  Liberal  party  in  toto.  But  this  was  not  done  ;  he 
had  dissolved;  his  rival  had  come  into  office,  and  was,  for  the 
first  time,  at  the  head  of  a  Ministry  which  was  endorsed  by  a 
majority  of  the  House.  Nor  was  the  election  all ;  there  were 
not  wanting  former  professed  friends  of  Mr.  Gladstone  who  jeer- 
ed at  his  fall  from  power. 

Shortly  before  the  House  met  for  active  business,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone addressed  a  circular  to  the  Liberal  members  of  Parliament, 
reiterating  the  intention  which  he  had  expressed  conditionally 
before  the  election,  to  retire  from  the  leadership  of  the  Liberal 
party.  The  condition  had  been  fulfilled,  in  the  failure  to  secure 
an  endorsement  of  his  policy;  and  he  wrote  to  Lord  Granville, 
who  had  long  been  the  leading  Liberal  Peer,  a  more  explicit 
statement  of  his  reasons  for  so  doing.  From  this  letter  we  learn 
little,  however,  beyond  the  bare  fact  that  he  considered  his  age 
to  entitle  him  to  some  rest ;  and  he  alleged  "various  personal 
reasons"  for  not  engaging  himself  as  closely  with  Parliamentary 
matters  as  he  had  done. 

The  new  Ministerialists  indulged  in  a  little  pleasantry  con- 
cerning an  Opposition  without  a  leader,  and  the  party  which 
had  so  lately  divided  its  support  found  how  necessary  Mr.  Glad- 
stone was  to  its  success.  But  the  opposing  parties  did  not 
measure  swords  at  once.  For  a  while  there  was  quite  a  Utopian 
state  of  things  in  Parliament;  true,  an  over-zealous  Tory  did 
propose  a  vote  of  censure  upon  the  late  Ministry  for  dissolving, 
but  Mr.  Disraeli  promptly  silenced  him,  making  Mr.  Gladstone's 
annihilation  of  his  arguments  quite  unnecessary.  The  new  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer,  Sir  Stafford  Northcote,  confessed  that 
the  calculations  of  the  late  Prime  Minister  were  quite  correct, 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry.  Sit 

and  there  was  a  surplus,  as  stated,  in  the  revenue.  The  Govern- 
ment made  no  pretensions  to  any  original  policy,  but  followed 
that  which  their  predecessors  had  intended  to  pursue ;  and  every- 
thing was  lovely. 

Such  a  state  of  affairs  could  not  last  very  long,  however,  and 
the  introduction  of  several  important  religious  measures  speed- 
ily aroused  the  sleeping  lion  of  contention.  The  first  of  these 
concerned  itself  with  the  Church  Patronage  of  Scotland  ;  this 
had  been  a  subject  of  agitation  for  the  last  three  hundred  years, 
or  ever  since  the  regent  Murray  set  aside  the  authority  and  the 
religion  of  his  royal  sister.  The  General  Assembly  had  passed 
various  resolutions  expressing  their  dissatisfaction  with  the  ex- 
isting state  of  affairs,  but  nothing  definite  had  been  brought  for- 
ward by  any  Government  until  this  time.  The  present  bill,  a 
short  but  comprehensive  one,  was  supported  by  some  influential 
Liberal  Peers,  being  introduced  in  that  House;  but  was  op- 
posed by  the  Liberal  members  of  the  Lower  Chamber.  The  chief 
feature  of  the  debate  was  a  vigorous  speech  by  Mr.  Gladstone, 
who  had  not  appeared  in  the  House  for  some  time,  and  whose 
rising  was  therefore  greeted  with  unusual  warmth  by  his  adher- 
ents. While  the  motive  of  the  bill  was  laudable,  he  considered 
its  details  as  extremely  objectionable,  and  as  such  opposed  them 
with  all  the  force  of  his  eloquence.  The  statement,  "  I  am  not  an 
idolator  of  Establishments,"  called  forth  ironical  cheers  from 
the  Treasury  Benches,  which  were  speedily  drowned  in  genuine 
applause  from  his  own  friends.  The  opposition  was  fruitless, 
however,  for  the  second  reading  was  carried  by  a  considerable 
majority. 

A  bill  for  the  Regulation  of  Public  Worship  was  introduced  in- 
to the  House  of  Lords  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury;  and 
upon  this,  when  it  came  down  to  the  Commons,  Mr.  Gladstone 
made  another  important  speech.  "He  fairly  electrified  the  as- 
sembly," said  a  contemporary  newspaper.  It  opposed  the  bill  on 
the  ground  that  it  was  an  undue  interference  with  freedom  ;  and 
claimed  that  perfect  uniformity  of  ritual  was  impossible.  His 
speech  was  described  by  Sir  William  Harcourt,  who  replied  to  it, 
as  a  powerful  plea  for  universal  Non-conformity,  or  optional  con- 
formity; and  the  resolutions  which  he  proposed  as  a  substitute 
for  the  bill  could  only  point,  according  to  Mr.  Disraeli's  under- 
standing of  them,  to  the  abolition  of  that  religious  settlement 
which  had  prevailed  in  England  for  more  than  two  centuries. 


316  The  First  Gladstone  Ministry. 

The  Government,  by  these  declarations  and  others  of  the  same 
nature,  clearly  adopted  the  bill,  and  it  soon  became  evident  that 
Mr.  Gladstone's  resolutions  were  distasteful  to  many  of  his  own 
supporters.  He  withdrew  his  resolutions  when  it  became  ap- 
parent that  the  greater  part  of  the  House  was  in  favor  of  the 
bill;  and  the  measure  eventually  became  law,  though  it  has 
never  accomplished  the  object  for  which  it  was  intended. 

The  Endowed  Schools  Act  Amendment  Bill  was  looked  upon 
by  the  Liberals  as  a  step  backward,  and  opposed  accordingly. 
That  party,  when  in  power,  had  given  into  national  control  the 
schools  which  had  formerly  been  under  sectarian  government ; 
and  this  was  a  reversal  of  that  policy,  in  effect.  It  was  moved  by 
Mr.  Forster  that  the  bill  should  be  rejected,  and  the  motion  was 
strongly  supported  by  Mr.  Gladstone.  The  ex-Premier  pointed 
out  that  this  was  a  reversal  of  the  policy  of  the  last  Parliament, 
and  was  unwise  as  well  as  unusual.  The  Liberal  party,  he  said, 
during  the  last  forty  or  fifty  years,  had  taken  the  initiative  of 
policy  in  almost  every  instance,  and  had  been  followed  by  the 
Conservatives,  acting  in  prudence  and  honesty.  It  was  the  first 
instance,  he  claimed,  of  any  direct  attempt  being  made  by  a  Min- 
istry at  retrogression.  The  only  similar  case  which  he  could  find 
in  history  dated  back  to  the  reign  of  William  III.,  and  the  act 
then  passed  was  now  proposed  for  repeal.  Although  the  Govern- 
ment had  a  considerable  majority  upon  the  second  reading,  and 
also  upon  the  motion  to  go  into  committee,  they  found  that  it 
would  be  so  hotly  contested  in  committee  that  they  judged  it 
best  to  make  some  important  modifications ;  nnd  it  in  its  mutil- 
ated state  finally  passed  and  received  the  royal  assent. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  retirement  from  the  leadership  of  the  Liber- 
al party  had  been  assigned  a  possible  limit  in  his  letter  to  Lord 
Granville  ;  that  limit  was  reached  Jan.  1st,  1875,  butthe  same  cir- 
cumstances still  existed,  and  he  definitely  withdrew  from  politi- 
cal life,  so  far  as  anything  more  than  occasional  presence  in  the 
House  of  Commons  was  concerned.  His  withdrawal  brought  con 
sternation  to  his  political  friends,  who  had  been  willing  to  en- 
dure his  absence  for  a  time,  if  they  might  look  forward  to  his  re- 
turn ;  but  his  resolution  was  unalterable.  "Words  of  praise  were 
showered  upon  him  by  all  alike;  and  it  was  feared  that  he  had 
finally  left  the  strife  of  party. 

It  was  of  courso  necessary  to  olcct  a  new  leader.  There  were 
two  men  whose  namos  first  occurred  to  the  observer  of  the  field 


The  First  Gladstone  Ministry.  317 

— Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Lowe.  Mr.  Bright,  it  was  well  known, 
would  not  accept  the  vacant  post,  for  the  same  reason  that  he 
had  hesitated  about  accepting  office  ;  as  for  Mr.  Lowe,  he  was  a 
man  of  undoubted  ability — but — then  the  speaker  would  shako 
his  head  significantly,  and  the  listener  would  know  exactly  what 
was  meant  regarding  that  erratic  genius,  and  agree  with  him. 
The  list  was  thus  reduced  to  Mr.  Forster,  Sir  W.  Harcourt,  Mr. 
Goschen,  and  the  Marquis  of  Hartington.  The  first  three  were 
subsequently  withdrawn,  and  Lord  Hartington  unanimously 
elected  to  the  vacant  place. 

The  choice  was  not  an  unwise  one ;  for  although  the  new  lead- 
er was  indolent  and  lacked  many  of  the  brilliant  qualities  of  his 
predecessor,  he  defeated  the  prophecies  of  those  who  had  pre- 
dicted his  failure  j  and  justified  very  largely  the  eulogy  which 
Mr.  Bright  had  pronounced  upon  him  at  the  time  of  his  election. 

Mr.  Gladstone  did  not  often  appear  in  the  House  during  the 
session  of  1875.  His  first  important  speech  was  upon  Mr.  Os- 
borne  Morgan's  Burials  Bill,  which  proposed  that  the  friends  of 
the  deceased  should  have  the  privilege  of  deciding  upon  the  ser- 
vice to  be  used  in  a  parish  graveyard.  It  seems  to  bo  something 
similar  to  that  which  Mr.  Gladstone  had  before  advocated.  lie 
spoke  in  favor  of  this,  as  did  Mr.  Bright,  but  it  was  finally  nega- 
tived by  a  majority  of  fourteen. 

The  budget  introduced  by  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  was  the  sub- 
ject of  another  speech.  Mr.  Gladstone  objected  to  various  meas- 
ures which  were  proposed  by  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
and  maintained  that  the  surplus  for  the  ensuing  year  was  over- 
estimated. The  plan  for  reducing  the  National  Debt,  he  main- 
tained, was  founded  upon  the  supposition  that  there  would  be  a 
large  surplus  every  year  for  the  next  thirty  years,  and  that  suc- 
ceeding Chancellors  of  the  Exchequer  would  do  the  reverse  of 
what  Sir  S.  Northcote  had  done.  The  plan  was,  however,  adopt- 
ed. 

There  were  other  speeches  made  during  the  session,  but  not 
many;  and  they  were  upon  topics  of  little  or  no  permanent  inter- 
est. During  the  autumn,  Mr.  Gladstone  met  the  Hawarden  ten- 
antry, and  made  the  most  pleasing  speech  of  the  year.  The 
reason  for  his  continued  silence  was  found  afterward  to  be  the 
preparation  of  controversial  works,  which  forever  settled  the 
question  of  his  secret  membership  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and 
which  we  shall  consider  in  a  later  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

GLADSTONE  IN  OPPOSITION. 

Eastern  Question — Turkey  Does  Nothing  but  Promise — Suicide  of  the  Turkish 
Sultan — Oriental  Kaces — Explanations  by  Disraeli — Raised  to  the  Peerage 
Bulgarian  Horrors — Lord  Salisbury  in  the  East — Earl  of  Shaftesbury — 
Duke  of  Argyle — Lord  George  Hamilton — Gladstone's  Pamphlet  on  the 
Turkish  Question — Action  in  Parliament  on  the  Turkish  Situation — Pro- 
tracted Debate— Vote  of  Credit— " Peace  with  Honor"— Sir  Stafford 
Northcote — Gladstone  Arraigns  the  Government — Triumphal  March 
Through  Scotland — "  Grand  Old  Man  " — Great  Ovations  Everywhere. 

rLTHOUGH  Mr.  Gladstone  had  thus  formally  retired  from 
the  leadership  of  the  Liberal  party,  he  was  not  destined 
to  remain  in  retirement  for  a  long  period.  Perhaps  it 
would  have  been  impossible  for  a  man  constituted  as  he  was,  and 
accustomed  for  many  years  to  take  a  prominent  part  in  direct- 
ing the  affairs  of  the  nation,  to  content  himself  with  merely  liter- 
ary activity;  certainly  the  events  of  the  years  immediately  suc- 
ceeding his  effort  to  devote  himself  to  purely  intellectual  pursuits 
were  stirring  enough  to  arouse  him  from  the  repose  which  he  had 
promised  himself. 

When- the  Crimean  war  closed,  Lord  Aberdeen  had  said  that 
the  treaty  might  possibly  remain  intact  for  five  and  twenty 
years  j  ho  was  laughed  at  as  a  pessimist,  but  the  event  proved 
that  ho  was  rather  optimistic  than  otherwise.  Before  the  quar- 
ter century  had  elapsed,  the  Eastern  Question  was  once  more  the 
problem  of  the  hour. 

The  fact  that  many  of  the  provinces  of  Turkey  were  inhabited 
by  alien  races  was  bound  to  lead  to  foreign  interference  on  the 
behalf  of  such  peoples.  Such  interference  was  rendered  more 
frequent  because  of  the  difference  in  religion,  which  was  often 
made  the  excuse  when  there  was  no  real  need  of  outside  assis- 
tance. The  Danubian  Principalities  had  been  under  the  protec- 
torate of  the  Czar,  but  this  state  of  affairs  was  never  recognized 
at  Constantinople,  and  the  Treaty  of  Paris  had  restored  them  to 
Turkey.  Their  subjection  was  only  nominal,  however,  foi  when 

818 


In  Opposition.  819 

Moldavia  and  "Wallacnia  united  themselves  under  one  govern- 
ment, and  expelled  their  ruler,  the  Pcrte  could  only  look  help- 
lessly on.  Encouraged  by  this  success,  and  probably  by  the 
fact  that  the  Cretan  rebellion  had  not  been  a  complete  failure, 
the  Servians  demanded  that  the  Turkish  garrisons  should  be  re- 
moved from  their  midst,  and  the  Turks  complied.  Eussia  had 
declared  that  she  was  no  longer  bound  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris, 
and  this  gave  fresh  courage  to  the  provinces  which  were  always 
ready  to  revolt  when  occasion  offered.  But  although  the  Turks 
had  withdrawn  the  garrisons  when  required  to  do  so,  they  had 
not  relaxed  the  oppression  which  was  practiced  in  other  ways. 
It  has  frequently  been  remarked  that  there  is  in  Turkish  rule  no 
medium  between  neglect  and  tyranny;  and  that  the  portions  of 
the  Empire  where  tyranny  might  be  excusable,  as  being  the  only 
means  of  maintaining  public  order,  are  the  very  portions  where 
the  hand  of  authority  is  never  felt.  Tho  strength  which  should 
be  used,  under  a  just  government,  in  repressing  crime  and  disor- 
der, is  exercised  in  the  oppression  of  those  quiet  and  law  abid- 
ing provinces  which  should  be  protected  from  others.  It  must  be 
admitted,  however,  that  the  Christian  provinces  were  not  at  this 
time,  and  had  not  been  for  many  years,  orderly  and  law-abiding; 
they  had  suffered  so  much  from  the  tyranny  of  their  Mahometan 
masters  that  they  were  always  in  a  ferment  of  revolt. 

Early  in  July,  1875,  the  news  reached  England  that  the  op- 
pression had  at  last  become  unbearable,  and  that  the  Herzegov- 
ina was  in  open  rebellion.  It  became  quite  clear  at  once  that  a 
new  chapter  of  the  old  troubles  was  beginning.  The  Turkish 
statesmen  insisted  that  the  rebels  were  receiving  outside  assis- 
tance, and  called  upon  England  to  interfere.  England  was  the 
enemy  of  Russia,  and  as  such  was  regarded  as  the  friend  of  the 
Porte.  Austria  was  one  of  the  offenders  against  whom  complaint 
was  made.  Servia  and  Montenegro  were  requested  to  stop  send- 
ing supplies  of  arms  and  men  to  the  insurgents.  But  none  of  the 
Governments  thus  appealed  to  seem  to  have  done  anything. 
Lord  Derby,  the  Foreign  Secretary,  pursued  a  decidedly  feeble 
course.  He  knew  that  the  oppression  of  the  Turkish  Christians 
would  be  unpopular,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  repression  of 
the  Turkish  cruelties  would  be  pleasing  to  Russia,  who  always 
desired  to  see  the  Ottoman  humbled ;  and  anything  which 
pleased  Russia  was  sure  to  displease  the  English  people.  Undei 
such  circumstances,  he  decided  to  act  with  the  Porte;  and  urged 


320  In  Opposition 

the  Government  at  Constantinople  to  put  down  the  insurrection 
as  quickly  as  possible,  and  not  allow  it  to  swell  to  the  magnitude 
of  a  matter  for  European  intervention.  This  offended,  not  only 
r>opu)ar  feeling,  but  the  popular  conscience  ;  and  somewhat  in- 
terfered with  the  popularity  of  the  Disraeli  Government. 

But  the  recommendation  to  the  Porte  was  more  than  he  could 
obey.  It  was  impossible  to  put  down  the  insurrection,  which 
continued  to  spread.  Finally,  on  the  last  day  but  one  of  the 
year  1875,  Count  Andrassy,  the  Austrian  Minister,  in  conjunction 
with  the  representatives  of  Germany  and  Russia,  addressed  a 
note  to  the  Porte.  This  Note  from  the  three  great  Empires  de- 
clared that  the  promises  of  reform  made  by  Turkey  had  been 
broken,  and  that  some  combined  action  of  the  Powers  of  Europe 
was  necessary  to  insure  their  fulfillment.  If  this  were  not  done 
they  declared,  the  governments  of  Servia  and  Montenegro, 
would  be  compelled  by  the  enthusiasm  of  those  peoples  to  sup- 
port the  revolutionary  cause  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina;  and 
this  would  mean  a  general  outbreak.  This  Note  was  communi- 
cated to  the  Powers  which  had  signed  the  Treaty  of  Paris; 
France  and  Italy  at  once  signified  their  concurrence;  England 
alone  hesitated.  It  was  not  until  Lord  Derby  received  a  request 
from  the  Turkish  Government  that  ho  would  join  in  it,  that  he 
complied.  It  seems  at  first  strange  that  such  a  request  should 
come  from  the  Porte  ;  the  reason  for  it  is  scarcely  honorable  to 
England,  for  she  was  regarded  as  a  secret  friend  by  Turkey. 

Lord  Derby  joined  in  the  Andrassy  Note,  and  it  was  sent  to 
the  Porte.  The  Turks  listened  gravely  to  the  complaints  and  de- 
mands, and  promised  all  sorts  of  good  behavior  for  the  future. 
The  Powers  had  evidently  gained  their  point  at  once. 

But  Turkey  did  nothing  but  promise.  Not  one  of  the  griev- 
ances was  redressed,  and  it  soon  became  apparent  that  she  did  not 
intend  to  take  any  steps  to  meet  the  demands.  The  Berlin  Mem- 
orandum was  accordingly  drawn  up  by  the  three  Imperial  Min- 
isters, pointing  out  the  increasing  danger  of  disturbance,  and  the 
necessity  for  carrying  into  effect  at  once  the  objects  of  the  An- 
drassy Note.  It  was  proposed  that  hostilites  should  bo  suspend- 
ed for  two  months  between  the  Porte  and  the  insurgents,  while  a 
peace  was  being  negotiated  ;  and  that  the  consuls  and  other  rep- 
resentatives of  the  powers  should  watch  over  the  proposed  re- 
forms. Tho  Memorandum  significantly  intimated  that  if  the 
desired  objects  were  not  attained  during  the  period  of  two 


In  Opposition.  82"J 

months,  the  Powers  would  have  to  see  what  should  be  done. 
This  threat  meant  that  the  matter  must  be  settled  as  vhe  Note 
and  Memorandum  had  intimated  ;  for  Turkey  could  not  think  of 
resisting  the  arms  of  united  Europe. 

Unfortunately,  the  English  Government  did  not  see  its  way 
clear  to  join  in  this  Memorandum.  The  general  impression  was, 
that  Eussia  had  been  stirring  up  the  discontent  which  had  cul- 
minated in  theso  difficulties,  that  the  Christian  Powers  might  be 
compelled  to  interfere  in  Turkish  matters,  to  the  manifest  disad- 
vantage of  the  Porte.  Lord  Derby  himself  was  of  the  opinion 
that  a  secret  agreement  had  existed  among  the  empires  since 
1873,  and  he  feared  that  England  would  be  drawn  into  a  danger- 
ous complication.  His  refusal  made  concert  among  the  Powers 
impossible  for  the  time,  and  the  Memorandum  was  never  pre- 
sented. Then  every  one  in  Europe  and  America  knew  that  war 
was  certain  in  the  East.  This  refusal  of  the  English  Govern- 
ment seems  to  have  given  fresh  courage  to  the  Turks,  who  had 
been  pretty  well  frightened  by  the  magnitude  of  the  storm  which 
had  threatened  them  a  little  while  before.  There  was  an  out- 
break of  Mussulman  fanaticism  at  Salonica,  and  the  French  and 
German  consuls  were  murdered.  There  was  a  revolution  in  Con- 
stantinople itself,  and  Abdul  Aziz  was  dethroned  to  make  way 
for  a  sultan  capable  of  carrying  on  a  war  with  an  empty  treas- 
ury. This  rara  avis,  it  was  thought,  they  had  found  in  his 
nephew,  whom  the  Softas  made  Murad  Y.;  but  three  months  af- 
ter this  remarkable  discovery  was  made,  they  had  proved  to 
their  own  satisfaction  that  they  were  mistaken  ;  and  Murad 
stepped  down  and  out  to  make  room  for  his  brother  Hamid. 

Nobody  expressed  any  special  regret  when  Abdul  Aziz  open- 
ed the  arteries  of  his  arm,  and  bled  to  death  in  his  palace;  but 
there  were  circumstances  more  terrible  than  these  changes,  which 
were  soon  to  alarm  and  horrify  all  Europe.  An  insurrection 
broke  out  in  Bulgaria,  and  the  Turkish  Government  sent  large 
numbers  of  Bashi-Bazouks  and  other  irregular  troops  to  crush 
it.  The  insurrection  was  duly  crushed,  but  the  Bashi-Bazouks 
did  not  cease  their  horrible  work.  Repression  turned  to  massa- 
cre, and  rumors  began  to  reach  Constantinople  of  hideous  whole- 
sale unprovoked  murders  in  the  northern  province.  The  cor- 
respondent of  the  London  Daily  News  heard  them,  and  resolved 
to  investigate  them  j  ho  did  so,  and  found  that  the  reports  were 
but  too  well  founded  in  fact.  In  a  few  days  afterward  accounts 


322  In  Opposition. 

were  published  in  England  of  what  has  ever  since  been  known 
as  the  Bulgarian  Atrocities.  Thousands  of  innocent  men,  women 
and  children  had  been  slaughtered ;  at  least  sixty  villages  had 
been  destroyed,  after  the  extermination  of  their  inhabitants;  for- 
ty girls  were  shut  up  in  a  straw  loft  and  burned  alive ;  the  most 
unnamable  outrages  were  committed ;  and  a  district  once  the 
most  fertile  in  the  Ottoman  Empire  had  been  ruined. 

While  the  English  public  was  reading  these  tales  of  horror, 
and  shuddering  at  the  tortures  to  which  the  prisoners  had  been 
subjected  before  death  came  to  relieve  them,  the  Prime  Minister 
was  taking  things  very  coolly.  He  made  it  very  evident  that  he 
did  not  know  much  about  the  Turkish  provinces  of  the  time,  nor 
about  Turkish  affairs  in  general;  he  had  not  considered  the 
charges  worth  investigating ;  but  assuming  that  such  atrocious 
crimes  were  greatly  exaggerated  in  the  telling,  endeavored  to 
set  the  matter  before  the  House  of  Commons  in  the  light  in 
which  he  saw  it.  The  newspaper  correspondent  had  been  in 
search  of  sensations  ;  of  course  he  had  not  made  the  picture  any 
the  less  dark  ;  rumor  has  a  thousand  tongues  ;  and  there  must  be 
much  allowance  made  for  "  coffee-house  babble."  The  Bashi- 
Bazouks,  he  informed  his  hearers,  were  the  regular  occupants  oi 
Bulgaria,  being  a  Circassian  race  who  had  settled  there  long  ago, 
with  the  concurrence  of  all  Europe.  As  for  the  torture,  Orient- 
al races  "generally  terminated  their  connection  with  culprits 
in  a  more  expeditious  manner." 

Mr.  Disraeli's  debonair  treatment  of  the  question  did  not  sat- 
isfy the  House.  The  Bashi-Bazouks  were  not  the  gentle,  harm- 
less creatures  that  he  had  represented  them  to  be ;  they  believed 
that  the  statements  in  the  News  were  entitled  to  more  credit  than 
he  was  willing  to  give  them ;  and  they  grew  more  and  more  in- 
dignant that  the  Prime  Minister  of  England  should  speak  thus 
lightly  of  the  outrages  committed  by  Mahometan  soldiery. 

That  the  newspaper  statements  were  not  exaggerated,  was 
shown  by  the  report  of  Mr.  Baring,  who  was  sent  out  to  investi- 
gate the  matter ;  he  reported  that  so  far  from  the  only  deaths  be- 
ing those  which  took  place  in  battle,  between  armed  insurgents 
and  the  soldiers,  he  had  himself  seen  whole  masses  of  the  bodies 
of  woman  and  children  piled  together,  in  places  where  no  bodies 
of  combatants  were  to  be  seen.  No  fewer  than  twelve  thousand 
persons  had  been  killed  in  the  single  district  of  Philippopolis. 
This  report  from  a  man  who  was  generally  supposed  to  be  in 


In  Opposition.  823 

sympathy  with  Turkey  upon  the  question  as  a  whole,  was  indis- 
putable; and  the  Turkish  Government  showed  that  they  had  no 
intention  of  disowning  these  atrocities  by  their  action,  soon  af- 
terward, in  rewarding  the  chief  perpetrators  by  new  honors  con- 
ferred upon  them,  presumably  for  the  part  borne  in  these  mur- 
ders. 

What  followed  in  England  ?  The  Premier  became  only  too  anx- 
ious to  explain  away  his  words.  There  had  been  no  levity,  he 
assured  his  listeners,  in  the  expression  which  he  had  used  when 
he  spoke  of  the  improbability  of  Turks  torturing  their  prison- 
ers ;  he  had  not  denied  the  existence  of  the  Bulgarian  atrocities, 
but  having  no  official  information  that  they  had  taken  place, 
was  bound  not  express  his  intentions  regarding  them.  The 
public  excitement  was  at  white  heat;  the  words  of  Mr.  Disraeli 
were  regarded  simply  as  another  instance  of  his  inconsistency  ; 
they  were  swept  impatiently  aside,  while  the  people  looked 
about  them  for  a  leader.  Not  the  man  who  had  scoifed  at  the 
story  of  outrage ;  not  any  of  the  Government  which  had  half 
condoned  the  offenses  of  the  Turks;  not  Mr.  Bright,  whose  health 
was  too  uncertain  to  allow  him  to  take  the  part  which  his  down- 
right antagonism  to  what  he  believed  wrong  would  have  led 
him;  not  the  new  leader  of  the  Liberal  party,  who  was  some- 
what slow ;  but  a  man  whose  eloquence  could  inflame  the  cold- 
est; a  man  whose  principles  were  unquestioned  ;  a  man  whose 
standing  was  such  that  his  slightest  word  must  command  atten- 
tion ;  a  man  skilled  in  dealing  with  others — such  was  the  leader 
that  was  sought  for  what  Bright  characterized  as  "  an  upris- 
ing of  the  English  people."  Was  there  such  a  man  ?  And  would 
he  lead  them  when  he  was  found?  Such  were  the  questions 
which  were  earnestly  asked.  The  former  was  perhaps  easily  an- 
swered, as  men  turned  their  eyes  to  one  who  was  but  seldom 
heard  now-a-days  ;  the  latter  was  fully  answered  when  William 
Ewart  Gladstone,  casting  aside  polemics  and  criticism,  forgetful 
alike  of  the  Bard  of  Greece  and  the  Pope  of  Eome,  emerged 
from  his  semi-retirement  and  took  up  the  gauntlet  which  Dis- 
raeli had  allowed  to  drop  from  his  over-careless  hand.  He  had 
now  nearly  approached  the  limit  of  three  score  and  ten  ;  at  six- 
ty-seven we  scarcely  expect  much  ardor  from  the  advocate  of 
any  cause;  but  he  flung  himself  into  the  contest  with  all  the 
keen  and  impassioned  energy  of  a  youth.  "He  made  speeches 
in  the  House  of  Commons  and  out  of  it;  he  attended  monster 


324 


In  Opposition. 


Benjamin  Disraeli,  Earl  of  Beaconsfield. 

meetings  in  doors  and  out  of  doors;  he  published  pamphlets;  he 
wrote  letters;  he  brought  forward  motions  in  Parliament;    he 


In  Opposition.  32[i 

denounced  the  crimes  of  Turkey  and  the  policy  which  would 
support  Turkey,  with  an  eloquence  that  for  the  time  set  England 
aflame." 

Prince  Milan  had  left  Belgrade  in  June,  declaring  that  Servia 
could  not  longer  endure  the  oppressions  of  Turkey  ;  and  his 
province  was,  like  its  neighbors,  in  open  revolt.  We  need  not 
follow  the  whole  course  of  events  in  the  East;  we  are  interested 
only  in  what  was  done  in  England.  There  were  frequent  de- 
bates in  Parliament  upon  the  subject,  and  Mr.  Gladstone,  who 
had  so  rarely  been  present  at  the  daily  sessions,  now  spoke  al- 
most every  night  upon  some  topic  connected  with  the  outrages 
and  the  course  which  the  Government  pursued.  It  was  in  vain 
that  Mr.  Disraeli  explained  that  the  British  Government  had  re- 
fused to  join  in  the  Berlin  Memorandum,  because  that  represented 
a  policy  of  aggression,  with  which  England  would  have  nothing 
to  do  ;  that  the  British  fleet  had  been  sent  to  Besika  Bay,  not  for 
the  protection  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  but  to  maintain  the  rights 
of  the  British  ;  it  was  in  vain  that  Lord  Derby  defined  the  course 
of  the  Government  as  one  of  strict  neutrality,  and  approved  by 
the  other  Powers.  The  people  had  made  up  their  mind,  and  their 
decision  was  not  favorable  to  the  stand  which  the  Government 
had  taken. 

August  llth,  1876,  Mr.  Disraeli  made  his  last  reply  to  Mr. 
Gladstone  and  his  adherents  in  the  House  of  Commons.  It  was 
upon  this  subject;  he  affirmed  that  the  Turks  were  not  the  es- 
pecial proteges  of  England,  and  that  she  was  not  responsible  for 
what  had  occurred  in  Turkey ;  he  announced  that  the  sole  duty 
of  the  Government,  according  to  his  understanding  of  the  case, 
was  to  maintain  the  Empire  of  England,  and  that  they  would 
never  agree  to  any  step  which  hazarded  the  existence  of  the  Em- 
pire. After  this  speech,  Mr.  Disraeli  left  the  House,  never  again 
to  address  it  from  the  Ministerial  or  Opposition  benches;  for 
the  next  morning's  papers  contained  what  had  hitherto  been  a 
well-kept  secret:  The  Prime  Minister  had  been  created  Earl  of 
Beaconsfield. 

Perhaps  it  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  turn  aside  at  this  mo- 
ment to  note  what  was  the  nature  of  this  reward,  and  for  what  it 
was  bestowed.  Mr.  Disraeli  had  long  been  a  faithful  servant  of  the 
Crown;  he  had  served  it  with  the  best  of  what  was  no  mean  ability; 
upon  entering  on  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  the  First  Lord  of 
the  Treasury  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  session  of  Parlia- 


326  In  Opposition. 

ment,  he  had  determined  upon  the  aggrandizement  of  the  Crown 
by  every  legitimate  means;  there  was  to  be  another  Elizabeth- 
an period,  the  people  were  told;  and  every  one  waited  with 
confident  expectancy  to  see  the  Elizabethan  revival.  To  some 
extent  they  did  see  it;  but  whatever  power  great  men  may  pos- 
sess to  mould  circumstances  to  their  will,  they  cannot  wholly 
create  those  circumstances.  There  was  much  that  was  lacking  to 
make  the  Victorian  Era  a  reproduction  of  the  Elizabethan  ;  per- 
haps, if  the  matter  had  been  strictly  analyzed,  the  Tories  would 
not  have  become  the  more  popular  by  their  efforts  to  bring  back 
the  glory  of  the  tyrannical  Tudor;  but  the  phrase,  like  so  many 
to  which  the  brilliant  novelist  gave  currency,  was  a  taking  one, 
and  the  Ministry  was  lauded  for  the  intention.  The  Queen 
was  given  the  new  title  of  "  Empress  of  India,"  though  the  Op- 
position carried  an  amendment  which  prohibited  the  use  of  the 
new  title  in  the  United  Kingdom  ;  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  par- 
aded through  India,  that  he  might  see  some  of  the  princes  who 
were  well-disposed  toward  his  royal  mother,  or  who  were  afraid 
to  be  anything  else  ;  the  Government  bought  a  certain  number 
of  shares  in  the  Suez  Canal,  which  were  just  then  going  begging, 
and  thus  acquired  the  controlling  interest  in  it;  and  the  Eliza- 
bethan revival  was  completed. 

When  Mr.  Disraeli  resigned  at  the  close  of  the  year  1868,  he 
was  offered  that  reward  so  dear  to  the  heart  of  an  Englishman — 
elevation  to  the  peerage.  Somewhat  to  the  surprise  of  those 
who  knew  him,  he  declined  it  for  himself;  accepting  it  for  the 
wife  to  whom  he  owed  so  much.  The  Viscountess  Beaconsfield 
died  four  years  later,  childless.  The  Premier,  by  his  talents  as 
a  debater,  and  his  persistency  under  defeat,  had  won  the  admir- 
ation of  his  opponents  as  well  as  of  his  adherents ;  personally  he 
was  most  acceptable  to  the  Queen  ;  and  it  was  nota  matter  of  won- 
der when  the  announcement  above  mentioned  was  made.  No  one 
objected  ;  no  one  cried  out  that  he  had  not  deserved  well  of  the 
Sovereign  ;  if  he  wanted  an  earldom,  by  all  means  let  him  have 
it;  and  his  enemies  were  among  the  first  to  applaud  the  royal 
recognition,  for  his  transfer  from  the  House  of  Commons  to 
the  House  of  Lords  was  a  material  weakening  of  his  party  in 
the  legislative  chamber  where  his  party  was  the  less  strong. 

Three  days  after  this,  Parliament  was  prorogued.  In  the  very 
beginning  of  the  recess  appeared  the  official  report  of  Mr.  Baring 
concerning  the  Bulgarian  atrocities  ;  and  Beaconsfield  was  con- 


In  Opposition.  327 

victed  by  the  evidence  of  one  of  his  own  subordinates  of  gloss- 
ing over  crimes  which  well  deserved  punishment,  because  he  did 
not  choose  to  investigate  the  truth  of  the  charges  until  public 
opinion  compelled  him  to  do  so.  Far  different  was  the  course 
taken  by  the  great  Liberal  leader,  as  he  still  ranked  in  men's 
minds,  though  he  had  chosen  that  another  should  have  that  title. 
Scarcely  a  month  after  the  prorogation,  he  published  a  pamphlet 
entitled,  "Bulgarian  Horrors,  and  the  Question  of  the  East."  Eng- 
land, he  maintained,  should  not  only  aim  at  the  termination  of 
the  war  actually  in  progress,  but  should  demand  the  accomplish- 
ment of  three  great  objects,  before  she  rested  from  her  labors. 
The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  put  an  end  to  the  anarchical 
misrule,  the  plundering,  the  murdering,  which  still  desolated 
Bulgaria ;  there  must  then  be  effective  measures  taken  to  pre- 
sent the  repetition  of  such  outrages  as  had  been  recently  perpe- 
trated under  the  sanction  of  the  Ottoman  Government,  by  ex- 
cluding its  administrative  action  for  the  future,  not  only  from 
Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  but  from  Bulgaria  as  well  j  the  latter 
province  being  the  one,  really,  which  it  was  most  essential  to 
protect  in  this  manner.  The  third  object  to  be  attained,  to  which 
these  were  the  steps,  was  the  redemption  of  the  honor  of  the 
British  name,  which  in  the  deplorable  events  of  the  past  year 
had  been  more  gravely  compromised  than  ever  before  within  his 
recollection.  He  supported  his  position  with  all  the  force  of  his 
powerful  eloquence  j  and  that  had  ripened  year  by  year,  so  that 
now,  when  he  had  so  nearly  reached  the  limit  of  average  human 
life,  this  faculty  was  at  its  very  zenith  ;  nor  could  that  star, 
which  had  thus  risen,  and  which  cast  so  glorious  a  light  upon 
the  progress  of  human  liberty,  decline  until  everlasting  night 
should  blot  it  from  the  vision  of  men. 

A  few  days  after  the  publication  of  this  pamphlet,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone addressed  his  constituents  at  an  immense  meeting  on  Black- 
heath.  The  speech,  which  was  among  the  most  eloquent  and  im- 
passioned of  his  political  orations,  furnished  the  watchwords  of 
his  party  in  the  campaign  which  followed.  At  various  points  in 
his  address  the  audience  was  completely  carried  away  by  the 
emotions  which  he  aroused.  There  had  been  an  effort  made  to 
compare  these  to  other  massacres  and  outrages,  of  which  his- 
tory had  told  j  but  the  effort  was  shown  to  be  futile  and  puerile. 
But,  he  told  them,  if  all  these  dark  pages  in  English  history 
could  be  concentrated  into  a  single  spot,  that  spot  would  not  be 


328 


In  Opposition.  329 

worthy  to  appear  upon  the  pages  which  should  hereafter  tell  of 
the  infamous  proceedings  of  the  Turks  in  Bulgaria.  He  advo- 
cated, not  the  abolition  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  but  the  limita- 
tion of  its  power  in  such  manner  that  it  could  not  again  practice 
these  dire  refinements  of  cruelty.  This  could  only  be  done  by 
the  combined  action  of  all  the  Powers  j  though  there  were  two 
whose  responsibilities  were  greater  than  any  other's  ;  these  two 
were  England  and  Russia.  He  did  not  claim  that  Russia  was  ex- 
empt from  ambition  ;  but  she  had  within  her  the  pulse  of  human- 
ity, and  it  was  this  pulse  which  he  now  believed  was  throbbing 
almost  ungovernably  in  the  minds  of  her  people.  The  power  of 
Russia  upon  land  was  irresistible  j  that  of  England  by  sea  was  at 
least  as  great;  he  closed  with  the  significant  question,  which  the 
Foreign  Secretary  essayed  to  answer  not  long  afterward  : 

"I  ask  you,  what  would  be  the  condition  of  the  Turkish  arm- 
ies if  the  British  admiral  now  in  Besika  Bay  were  to  inform  the 
Government  that,  from  that  hour,  until  atonement  had  been  made 
— until  punishment  had  descended,  until  justice  had  been  vindi- 
cated— not  a  man,  not  a  ship,  not  a  boat  should  cross  the  waters 
of  the  Bosphorus,  or  the  cloudy  Euxine,  or  the  bright  ^Egean,  to 
carry  aid  to  the  Turkish  troops?" 

This  address  created  too  much  enthusiasm  among  the  people 
to  be  left  unanswered  j  and  the  Premier  himself  undertook  the 
task.  Speaking  at  Aylesbury,  he  admitted  that  the  Ministerial 
policy  was  unpopular,  but  strongly  condemned  those  "designing 
politicians  who  take  advantage  of  sublime  sentiments,  and  apply 
them  for  the  furtherance  of  their  own  sinister  ends."  This  lan- 
guage was  of  course  quoted  with  approval  among  the  ultra-Con- 
servatives ;  but  it  was  warmly  denounced  as  extraordinary  tri- 
fling, by  those  who  were  less  bitter  in  their  personal  dislike  of 
the  great  Liberal  and  his  followers. 

Lord  Derby  directed  the  British  embassador  at  Constantinople 
to  lay  Mr.  Baring's  report  upon  the  Bulgarian  atrocities  before 
the  Ottoman  Government,  and  to  demand  that  the  offenders 
should  be  punished.  This  was  said  at  the  time  to  be  an  answer 
to  that  question  which  Mr.  Gladstone  propounded  to  his  listen- 
ers on  Blackheath,  and  which  we  have  quoted  above ;  and  it 
would  have  been,  had  the  demand  been  enforced.  But  that  was 
the  last  of  it ;  the  British  Government  never  pressed  the  Porte  for 
a  definite  answer,  and  the  Government  which  had  rewarded  Ach- 
met  Agha,  the  Turkish  general  in  Bulgaria,  with  the  Order  of 


330  In  Opposition. 

the  Medjidie,  was  not  likely  to  give  such  satisfaction  until  com- 
pelled to  do  so.  Turkey  finally  agreed  to  an  armistice  of  eight 
weeks,  and  the  Czar  who  had  brought  the  pressure  to  bear  which 
resulted  in  this,  pledged  his  sacred  word  of  honor  to  the  En- 
glish ambassador  that  he  had  no  intention  of  occupy  ing  Constan- 
tinople j  and  that  if  necessity  compelled  him  to  occupy  a  portion 
of  Bulgaria,  it  would  only  be  provisionally,  and  until  the  safety 
and  peace  of  the  Christian  population  were  secured.  A  week 
after  this,  Lord  Beaconsfield  delivered  a  warlike  speech  at  the 
Ministerial  banquet  at  Guildhall  ;  whereupon  the  Czar  declared 
that  if  Turkey  did  not  accede  to  his  demands,  Eussia  would  be 
prepared  to  act  independently. 

Lord  Salisbury,  who  had  been  accredited  as  the  English  rep- 
resentative at  the  Conference  of  Constantinople,  arrived  in  that 
city  Dec.  5th.  Three  days  later,  there  was  a  great  meeting  at 
St.  James'  Hall  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  Eastern  Ques- 
tion. The  Duke  of  Westminster  was  the  Chairman,  and  the 
meeting  was  addressed  by  men  eminent  in  politics,  letters, 
science,  religion  and  the  army.  At  a  second  meeting,  the  even- 
ing of  the  same  day,  Lord  Shaftesbury,  the  well-known  and  now 
lamented  statesman  and  philanthropist,  presided,  and  the  address- 
es were  at  least  as  interesting  as  in  the  afternoon.  Mr.  Gladstone 
spoke  at  this  time,  in  company  with  Mr.  Fawcett,  Canon  Liddon, 
Mr.  E.  A.  Freeman,  and  others  of  similiar  standing.  Mr.  Free- 
man urged  that  the  right  must  be  maintained  at  all  costs,  even  of 
the  interests  of  England;  Mr.  Fawcett,  referring  to  the  injunc- 
tion, "forgive  and  forget,"  insisted  that  there  was  one  man 
whose  acts  ought  never  to  be  forgiven  by  Englishmen,  and  that 
man  was  the  Prime  Minister  of  England.  After  such  speeches 
as  these,  Mr.  Gladstone  arose,  to  clinch  their  denunciations  with 
his  own.  As  at  Blackheath,  he  was  received  with  deafening 
cheers.  Eepudiating  the  accusation  that  these  meetings  were 
held  for  the  purpose  of  embarrassing  the  Government,  he 
charged  Lord  Beaconsfield  with  pursuing  a  policy  which  he 
knew  was  in  direct  antagonism  to  the  sentiment  of  the  country  ; 
it  was  not  until  the  Aylesbury  speech  that  Lord  Beaconsfield  had 
given  any  evidence  that  he  thought  England  had  duties  toward 
the  Christian  population  of  Turkey.  This  acknowledgment  was 
one  which  the  Opposition  had  tried  in  vain  to  draw  from  the 
Ministry  during  the  last  session;  the  first  declaration  of  this 
knowledge  was  made  by  Sir  Stafford  Northcote,  who  had  re- 


In  Opposition. 


331 


marked,  during  a  speech  somewhere  in  the  North,  "  Of  course 
we  are  all  aware  of  our  duties  to  the  Christian  population  of 
Turkey."  Mr.  Gladstone  said  that  he  was  glad  they  were  aware 
;>f  it,  but  the  recognition  of  that  obligation  was  not  to  be  found 


Lord  Shaftesbury. 

in  the  proceedings  of  Parliament  or  the  official  correspondence 
lor  the  past  year. 

Expressing  a  hope  that  Lord  Salisbury's  instructions  were  not 
in  accordance  with  Lord  Beaconsfield's  recent  speech  at  Guild- 
hall, which  had  so  directly  influenced  the  Czar,  he  trusted  that 
the  English  representative  would  be  permitted  to  give  scope 


332  In  Opposition. 

to  his  own  generous  instincts,  and  that  the  Plenipotentiaries  in 
general  would  insist  upon  the  future  independence  of  the  provin- 
ces, or  at  least  upon  such  a  form  of  government  as  would  insure 
them  freedom  from  oppression. 

While  the  meetings  at  St.  James'  Hall  were  not  without  their 
effect,  their  influence  would  have  been  even  deeper  and  wider  if 
it  had  not  been  for  the  fact  that  the  Conference  at  Constan- 
tinople was  sitting,  and  was  expected  to  accomplish  all  that 
could  be  hoped.  These  hopes  were,  however,  doomed  to  be  dis- 
appointed j  for  the  Conference  found  its  demands  rejected  by  the 
Turkish  Government.  These  demands  had  finally  been  reduced 
to  two  j  that  the  Powers  should  nominate  an  International  Com- 
mission, without  executive  powers  ;  and  that  the  Sultan  should 
appoint  governors-general,  holding  their  office  for  the  term  of 
five  years,  the  appointments  to  be  subject  to  the  approval  of 
the  guaranteeing  Governments.  But  the  "Unspeakable  Turk," 
as  Mr.  Gladstone  was  fond  of  apostrophizing  the  brutal  Ma- 
hometans, found  these  propositions  "contrary  to  their  integrity, 
independence  and  dignity,"  and  would  have  none  of  them. 

The  responsibility  of  this  situation  of  affairs,  Mr.  Gladstone 
did  not  hesitate  to  declare,  belonged  to  the  Government.  He 
atid  his  friends  had  been  told  to  mind  their  own  business.  To 
this  exceedingly  impolite  injunction,  the  statesman  replied  that 
the  Eastern  Question  was  their  own  business. 

The  plea  was  urged  that  the  Treaty  of  1856  had  been  broken. 
To  this  he  made  answer  that  Turkey  had  trampled  all  treaties 
under  foot.  If  the  treaties  were  in  force,  they  were  as  binding 
upon  Turkey  as  upon  England  ;  but  when  one  disregarded  them 
the  other  was  not  bound  to  observe  them. 

When  Parliament  opened,  in  February,  the  war  which  had 
been  raging  in  meetings  and  other  public  gatherings  broke  out 
afresh  in  the  two  Houses.  In  reply  to  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  who 
had  urged  the  necessity  for  decisive  action  upon  the  Govern- 
ment, the  Premier  said  that  any  interference  at  the  present 
would  tend  to  make  the  condition  of  the  Turkish  Christians 
worse  than  it  was  at  this  time.  Mr.  Gladstone,  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  enlarged  upon  the  contradictory  statements  of  recent 
negotiations,  Foreign  Office  documents,  the  Queen's  speech,  and 
the  orations  of  the  Ministers.  Mr.  Hardy  replied  for  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  said  that  the  time  had  not  yet  come  for  England 
to  cut  this  Gerdian  knot  with  the  sword. 


In  Opposition. 


333 


Mr.  Chaplin  complained  that  Mr.  Gladstone  and  other  Liber- 
als had  endeavored  to  regulate  the  sentiment  of  the  country  by 
the  publication  of  pamphlets  upon  the  subject,  and  by  the  deliv- 
ery of  numerous  speeches,  and  by  the  so-called  National  Con- 
ference at  St.  James'.  There  was  one  of  two  things  which  Mr. 
Gladstone  must  do — he  must  either  make  good  or  withdraw  his 
assertions;  there  was  was  no  other  course  which  was  open  to  a 
man  of  honor.  The  last  expression  was  ruled  out  by  the  Speak- 
er as  unparliamentary,  and  it  was  accordingly  withdrawn.  Mr. 
Chaplin  then  went  on 
to  say  that  he  regret- 
ted most  sincerely  Mr. 
Gladstone's  course  du- 
ring the  recess  j  he  had 
done  so  much  to  impair 
the  respect  and  esteem 
which  were  felt  for 
him  by  all  members  of 
the  House  and  to  shake 
to  its  foundations  the 
reputation  of  a  man 
whom  all  England  had 
long  been  accustomed 
to  regard  as  one  of  the 
greatest  of  her  sons. 
He  moved  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  debate. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  re- 
ply to  this  attack  was 
an  impromptu  one,  Duke  of  Argyll. 

which  fully  sustained  his  reputation  as  one  of  the  ablest  debaters 
who  ever  sat  in  the  House  of  Commons.  In  seconding  the  mo- 
tion for  an  adjournment,  he  said  that  he  was  surprised  to  bo  ac- 
c;isod,  for  the  first  time  in  a  public  career  extending  over  near- 
ly half  a  century,  of  an  unwillingness  to  meet  his  opponents  in 
fair  fight.  Why  had  not  the  honorable  gentleman  attended  those 
meetings  of  which  he  complained  so  much  ?  He  spoke  of  his  own 
reluctance  to  enter  upon  this  question,  and  declared  that  it  was 
only  the  strength  of  the  public  sentiment  which  had  made  him 
feel  an  avoidance  of  its  manifestation  impossible.  He  adminis- 
tered a  scathing  rebuke  to  Lord  George  Hamilton,  who  had  in- 


334 


In  Opposition. 


terrupted  him  twice,  and  then  turned  again  to  the  original 
assailant.  Upon  him  the  floods  of  wrath  were  poured.  If  he 
(Mr.  Gladstone)  by  his  speeches  and  his  pamphlet  had  done  all 
this  mischief,  why  did  not  Mr.  Chaplin  write  another  pamphlet, 
and  make  other  speeches,  which  would  set  the  people  right?  It 
was  the  nation  which  had  led  the  leaders  and  the  classes  in  this 
matter,  not  the  classes  and  the  leaders  who  had  led  the  nation ; 
the  speeches  and  pamphlet  had  been  no  more  than  the  match 

which  is  applied  to  fuel 
already  prepared.  The 
attack  had  been  a  viru- 
lent one  j  the  reply  was 
such  as  to  make  Mr.  Chap- 
lin sincerely  regret  that 
he  had  aroused  the  sleep- 
ing lion.  Said  Mr.  Glad- 
stone: 

"He  says,  sir,  that  I 
have  been  an  inflamma- 
tory agitator,  and  that  as 
soon  as  I  have  got  into 
this  House  I  have  no  dis- 
position to  chant  in  the 
same  key.  But  before 
those  debates  are  over, 
before  this  question  is  set- 
tled, the  honorable  gen- 
tleman will  know  more 
Lord  George  Hamilton.  about  my  opinions  than 

he  knows  at  present,  or  is  likely  to  know  to-night.  I  am  not  about 
to  reveal  nowto  the  honorable  gentleman  the  secrets  of  a  mind  so 
inferior  to  his  own.  I  am  not  so  young  as  to  think  that  his  obliging 
inquiries  supply  me  with  opportunities  the  most  advantageous  to 
the  public  interest  for  laying  out  the  plan  of  a  campaign.  By  the 
time  the  honorable  member  is  as  old  as  I  am,  if  he  conies  in  his  turn 
to  be  accused  of  cowardice  by  a  man  of  the  next  generation  to 
himself,  he  probably  may  find  it  convenient  to  refer  to  the  reply 
I  am  now  making,  and  to  make  it  a  model,  or,  at  all  events,  to 
take  from  it  hints  and  suggestions,  with  which  to  dispose  of  the 
antagonist  that  may  then  rise  against  him.  *  *  *  I  will  tell 
the  honorable  gentleman  something  in  answer  to  his  questions, 


In  Opposition.  335 

and  it  is  that  I  will  tell  him  nothing  at  all.  I  will  take  my 
own  counsel,  and  beg  to  inform  him  that  he  shall  have  no  rea- 
son whatever  to  complain,  when  the  accounts  come  to  be  settled 
and  cast  up  at  the  end  of  the  whole  matter,  of  any  reticence  or 
suppressions  on  my  part." 

Mr.  Gladstone  went  on  to  correct  the  mis-statements  of  what 
he  had  really  said  at  Taunton.  He  had  said  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  watch  closely  the  policy  of  the  Government;  that  he 
had  great  confidence  in  Lord  Salisbury,  but  he  did  not  know 
whether  the  Government  had  one  policy  or  two.  This  was  the 
greatest  question,  he  added,  which  had  come  before  Parliament 
in  his  time;  and  it  behooved  all  who  were  responsible  for  the 
course  of  England  to  consider  that  course  most  carefully.  He 
urged  upon  them  the  setting  aside  of  all  party  considerations, 
and  the  duty  of  striving  to  the  utmost  that  justice  should  be 
done. 

It  is  rare  that  Mr.  Gladstone  condescended  to  a  personal 
speech;  he  was  in  general  so  taken  up  with  measures  that  he 
had  no  time  in  which  to  consider  men;  his  opposition  to  the 
course  which  a  Government  might  pursue  did  not  involve  any 
personal  animosity  to  its  members  ;  but  the  above  extracts  will 
show  that  he  was  perfectly  able  to  defend  himself  when  neces- 
sary. Certainly  Mr.  Chaplin  was  provided  with  an  excellent 
model  for  the  repelling  of  future  attacks  on  himself. 

The  appeal  which  closed  this  speech  was  received  with  pro- 
tracted cheering.  Such  was  its  effect  upon  those  \vlio  heard  it, 
that  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  himself  remarked  that  he 
was  not  surprised  at  the  enthusiastic  applause  which  followed 
the  speech. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  pamphlet  before  mentioned  had  argued  that 
the  only  way  to  secure  any  permanent  good  for  the  Christian 
provinces  of  Turkey  was  to  turn  the  Turkish  officials  "  bag  and 
baggage"  out  of  them.  His  enemies  were  not  slow  to  quote 
garbled  extracts  from  this  argument  to  prove  that  Mr.  Glad- 
stone favored  nothing  less  than  the  expulsion  of  all  the  Turks 
from  Europe.  Against  this  accusation,  and  against  the  charge 
that  he  had  advocated  a  different  policy  at  the  close  of  the  Crim- 
ean war  from  that  which  he  upheld  now,  he  was  obliged  to  de- 
fend himself  in  Parliament  as  well  as  out  of  it.  But  the  mis- 
chief was  more  easily  done  than  undone.  He  was  represented 
as  demanding  the  instant  expulsion  of  every  Turk — man,  wo- 


Marquis  of  Salisbury — Premier  of  Great  Britain. 


In  Opposition.  337 

man  and  child — from  Europe;  if  this  were  done,  the  Kussians 
would  at  once  occupy  Constantinople,  and  the  power  of  Russia 
be  indefinitely  increased.  Lord  Beaconsfield,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  opposed  to  any  extension  of  the  Czar's  dominions,  and  took 
great  care  to  keep  this  continually  before  the  minds  of  the 
people.  There  were  many  sneers,  too,  from  the  Government  and 
its  supporters,  about  sentimentality  introduced  in  questions  of 
statesmanship.  Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  Lord  Beaconsfield 
was  looked  upon  as  the  champion  of  England,  and  the  enemy  of 
herenomy;  while  his  great  rival  was  openly  accused  of  being 
the  friend  and  instrument  of  Russia,  by  thousands  of  English- 
men who  honestly  believed  what  they  said.  So,  by  degrees, 
the  great  masses  of  the  people  began  to  look  with  different  eyes 
upon  the  war,  and  to  think  that  the  interests  of  the  country 
were  perhaps  safe  in  Beaconsfield's  hands  after  all. 

But  Mr.  Gladstone  was  not  left  without  supporters  of  his 
cause.  There  were  still  many  who  thought  as  he  did.  A  close 
observer  has  said  that  men  who  prided  themselves  upon  being 
practical  politicians  upheld  the  course  of  the  Government,  main- 
taining that  Turkey  must  be  held  as  a  barrier  against  Russia  at 
all  hazards;  while  men  who  held  that  sound  politics  cannot  ex- 
ist without  sound  morals,  protested  with  the  Liberal  chief  against 
England  making  herself  responsible  for  the  crimes  of  Turkey. 
The  one  cried  out  for  the  interests  of  morality,  the  other  for  the 
interests  of  England;  and  exclaimed  against  the  ambition  of 
Russia  or  the  atrocities  of  Turkey,  as  the  case  might  be. 

A  Protocol  was  signed  at  the  English  Foreign  Office  on  the 
last  day  of  March,  1877,  stating  that  the  Powers  intended  to 
watch  carefully  over  the  Christian  provinces  of  Turkey,  and  if 
their  condition  should  not  be  improved,  in  accordance  with  the 
demands  which  had  already  been  made,  in  such  a  way  as  to  pre- 
sent the  return  of  the  complications  which  periodically  disturb- 
ed the  peace  of  the  East,  such  a  state  of  affairs  would  be  con- 
sidered incompatible  with  the  interests  of  Europe  in  general, 
and  the  Powers  in  particular.  The  Turkish  Government  pro- 
tested against  the  humiliating  situation  in  which  it  was  placed 
by  the  Protocol,  and  Russia  accordingly  declared  war  April 
24th.  A  week  later,  England,  France,  and  Italy  issued  proclam- 
ations of  strict  neutrality. 

On  the  7th  of  May,  Mr.  Gladstone  gave  notice  of  certain  reso- 
lutions which  he  intended  to  move,  and  which  on  the  face  of 


338  In  Opposition. 

them  were  extremely  hostile  to  the  foreign  policy  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. Many  members  of  the  Liberal  party  declined  to  sup- 
port them,  on  the  ground  that  they  pledged  England  to  co-op- 
erate with  Kussia's  policy  of  force  ;  and  Mr.  Gladstone  ultim- 
ately amended  them  so  that  they  did  little  more  than  affirm  that 
Turkey  had  forfeited  all  claim  to  moral  or  material  support  from 
the  British  Crown. 

In  the  speech  which  introduced  these  altered  resolutions  to 
the  House,  Mr.  Gladstone  called  attention  to  the  vast  numbers 
of  meetings  which  were  being  held  for  the  discussion  of  the 
subject;  and  asserted  that  in  nineteen  cases  out  of  twenty,  the 
general  scope  of  the  resolutions  passed  at  these  meetings  had 
been  co-extensive  with,  not  the  mild  and  moderate  declarations 
which  he  now  offered  to  the  consideration  of  the  House,  but  the 
more  incisive  statements  which  he  had  first  proposed.  His  speech 
was  a  noble  effort;  fixing  the  responsibility  for  the  atrocities 
upon  the  shoulders  of  the  Turkish  Government,  he  declared  that 
the  remonstrances  of  England  had  no  effect,  because  the  Porte 
knew  that  they  began  and  ended  in  mere  words.  He  taught  them 
what  right  the  Christians  of  Turkey  had  to  look  to  Christian 
Europe  for  protection  against  their  Mussulman  masters  ;  he  told 
of  the  time  when  England  was  the  hope  of  freedom,  when  the 
eyes  of  the  oppressed  were  always  turned  to  her,  as  the  home  of 
so  much  privilege  and  so  much  happiness;  and  pleaded  that  this 
should  still  be  the  light  in  which  she  was  regarded.  He  told 
of  the  heroism  of  the  Montenegrins  and  the  Bulgarians;  and 
what  a  great  and  noble  prize  was  the  privilege  of  removing  their 
load  of  Woe  and  shame. 

The  debate  lasted  for  five  nights,  and  some  of  the  most  elo- 
quent speakers  in  the  House,  if  not  all  of  them,  were  heard  up- 
on the  subject.  Some  of  the  Liberals  spoke  in  support  of  the 
Government,  whose  policy  was  defined,  now  that  the  war  had 
actually  begun,  as  one  of  strict  neutrality;  among  these  was  Mr. 
Koebuck,  who,  however,  paid  high  tribute  to  Mr.  Gladstone  as 
"  a  man  whom  the  country  has  believed  to  be  one  of  its  greatest 
and  most  deserving  and  patriotic  Ministers  at  one  time  or  an- 
other; a  man  endowed  with  great  ability,  with  vast  power,  with 
a  winning  manner,  and  whose  influence  in  this  House  has  been 
almost  illimitable."  It  is  well  said  by  one  of  Mr.  Gladstone's 
biographers  that  it  was  the  high  moral  courage  and  loftiness  of 
purpose  which  had  been  so  conspicuously  displayed  in  his  atti- 


In  Opposition.  839 

tude  upon  that  Eastern  Question,  which  had  given  him  this  "  al- 
most illimitable"  influence. 

Lord  Hartington,  who  had  opposed  the  resolutions  in  their 
original  shape,  was  now  one  of  their  most  determined  support- 
ers. Mr.  Gladstone,  in  closing  the  debate,  pointed  out  the  dif- 
ferent courses  which  the  Government  had  seemed  to  pursue  at 
diiferent  times.  He  did  not  believe  that  the  time  when  united 
Europe  could  make  an  authoritative  demand  had  gone  by;  that 
demand  should  be  made  at  once;  coercion  did  not  mean  war.  If 
Russia  failed  in  the  work  which  she  had  undertaken,  he  pointed 
out,  the  condition  of  the  Christian  Provinces  would  be  infinitely 
worse  than  it  had  ever  been  before ;  if  she  succeeded,  as  she  de- 
served to  do  in  such  a  cause,  the  performance  of  such  a  work 
would  secure  for  her  undying  fame  ;  when  that  day  came,  he  con- 
cluded— 

"  When  that  work  shall  be  accomplished,  though  it  would  not 
be  in  the  way  and  by  the  means  I  would  have  chosen,  as  an  Eng- 
lishman I  shall  hide  my  head,  but  as  a  man  I  shall  rejoice.  Nev- 
ertheless, to  my  latest  day  I  shall  exclaim  :  Would  God  that  in 
this  crisis  the  voice  of  the  nation  had  been  suffered  to  prevail; 
would  God  that  in  this  great,  this  holy  deed,  England  had  not 
been  refused  her  share  !" 

But  the  eloquence  was  in  vain  ;  the  re-action  against  the  so- 
called  sentimentalism  had  strengthened  the  hands  of  the  Govern- 
ment; and  the  first  resolution  was  defeated  by  a  majority  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty-one. 

Mr.  Gladstone  addressed  a  large  meeting  at  Birmingham,  be- 
fore the  close  of  the  session,  upon  the  topic  of  the  hour;  and  up- 
on his  return  from  a  visit  to  Ireland  in  the  autumn  he  again 
spoke  at  various  points.  While  the  country,  as  represented  by 
the  House  of  Commons,  seemed  to  be  content  with  a  policy  of 
strict  neutrality  and  watchfulness,  the  people  themselves  seem 
never  to  have  tired  of  hearing  the  great  advocate  of  the  rights 
of  the  Turkish  Christians. 

In  November  of  this  year  Mr.  Gladstone  was  again  elected 
Lord  Rector  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  Lord  Beaconsfield 
retiring.  His  opponent  was  Sir  Stafford  Northcote,  the  Chancel- 
lor of  the  Exchequer ;  but  the  member  of  the  Government  re- 
ceived only  a  little  more  than  one-third  the  whole  number  of 
votes  polled. 

We  need  not  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  Russians  and  the  Turks 


340  In  Opposition. 

upon  the  field  of  battle,  or  tell  of  the  fall  of  Kars  and  Plevna,  or 
the  capture  of  Schipka  Pass.  It  is  enough  here  to  record  that 
on  the  23rd  of  January,  1878,  the  Turkish  Plenipotentiaries  at 
Adrianople  received  orders  from  the  Porte  to  accept  the  bases 
of  peace  as  submitted  to  them  by  the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas. 

4 


A**^*,  t   "*£• 


thfr*. 


ri 

Foe-Simile  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  Letter  to  Lord  Beaconsfield. 

A  week  after  this,  Mr.  Gladstone  addressed  a  meeting  which 
was  held  at  Oxford,  by  a  number  of  the  under-graduates,  to  cele- 
brate the  formation  of  a  Liberal  Palmerston  Club.  He  said  that 
for  the  past  eighteen  months  he  had  been  styled  an  agitator  ;  the 
accusation  was  well  founded  ;  during  that  period  he  had  been  an 


In  Opposition.  341 

agitator.  He  had  never  once  lost  sight  of  his  purpose,  which  was 
to  counterwork  what  he  believed  to  be  the  policy  of  Lord 
Beaconsfield.  The  vote  of  credit  for  which  the  Government  had 
asked  he  condemned  as  the  most  indefensible  proposition  which 
had  been  in  his  time  submitted  to  Parliament. 

Lord  Beaconsfield  attacked  Mr.  Gladstone  for  the  personalities 
which  he  had  used  in  his  various  speeches  upon  the  subject.  Mr. 
J-ladstone  courteously  requested  that  reference  to  those  person- 
alities should  be  furnished  him;  the  Premier  declined  to  search 
over  the  speeches  of  the  past  two  and  one-half  years,  and  admit- 
ted that  certain  expressions  which  he  had  accused  his  opponent 
of  using  were  not  to  be  found  in  the  Oxford  speech  or  elsewhere. 
This  was  the  only  reparation  which  Mr.  Gladstone  could  obtain 
from  the  brilliant  but  erratic  Minister  of  the  Crown. 

In  the  House  debate  upon  the  vote  of  credit,  Mr.  Gladstone 
alluded  to  the  vileness  of  the  motives  which  had  been  con- 
stantly imputed  to  him,  while  he  had  not  impugned  the  motives 
of  any  one.  He  was  willing,  however,  to  let  bygones  be  by- 
gones ;  and  with  this  amicable  declaration  proceeded  to  give  his 
reasons  for  opposing  the  vote  proposed.  It  would  not  strengthen 
the  hands  of  the  Government;  it  was  unconstitutional,  because  its 
necessity  had  not  been  clearly  shown;  it  would  be  destructive 
of  the  peaceful  character  of  the  Conference  which  was  about  to 
meet,  thus  to  usher  it  in  with  the  news  that  the  war  establish- 
mont  of  England,  which  was  now  upon  an  equality  with  that  of 
other  Powers,  should  be  thus  increased  upon  the  eve  of  its  meet- 
ing. 

The  Government  would  have  the  support  of  the  Opposition,  he 
said,  if  certain  points  were  insisted  upon  at  the  Conference.  A 
cession  of  Roumanian  territory,  which  would  interfere  with  the 
freedom  of  the  mouth  of  the  Danuoe,  must  be  resisted;  the 
claims  of  the  subject  races  to  a  fair  and  just  government  must  be 
supported;  though  he  saw  no  reason  why  Bulgaria,  having  re- 
lied upon  the  efforts  of  others  for  her  liberty,  should  not  pay  a 
tribute.  He  suggested  that  the  Government  should  postpone  the 
proposed  vote  for  a  time,  and  renew  it  if  it  became  necessary; 
and  closed  by  saying  that  an  address  should  be  presented  to  the 
Queen  by  both  Houses,  expressing  their  readiness  to  support  the 
Government  in  bringing  about  a  permanent  peace. 

The  vote  of  credit  was  ultimately  carried  by  a  very  large  ma- 
iority,  the  Marquis  of  Harrington  and  several  other  ^rominent 


342  In  Opposition. 

Liberals  not  voting  at  all.  Shortly  afterward,  the  conditions  of 
the  treaty  were  announced;  but  the  terms  were  regarded  as  op- 
pressive by  the  British  Government,  and  the  demand  was  made 
that  the  whole  question  should  be  submitted  to  the  proposed 
Congress  at  Berlin. 

Before  the  end  of  the  month  (March)  there  was  considerable 
public  uneasiness  in  England.  Not  only  were  the  chances  very 
shadowy  that  the  Berlin  Congress  would  ever  meet,  but  the  Gov- 
ernment had  taken  the  extreme  step  of  calling  out  the  reserves. 
In  consequence  of  this  action  of  the  Cabinet,  Lord  Derby  resign- 
ed his  post  as  Foreign  Secretary.  The  Marquis  of  Salisbury  be- 
came his  successor,  and  distinctly  expressed  the  opinion  that  a 
Congress  under  the  limitations  on  which  Prince  Gortschakoff 
insisted  would  not  consult  the  interests  which  England  was 
bound  to  guard,  nor  the  well-being  of  the  regions  with  which 
the  treaty  dealt.  A  long  diplomatic  correspondence  ensued,  and 
Salisbury  and  Gortschakoff  finally  agreed  upon  terms,  so  that  the 
Congress  met  the  last  of  June. 

The  course  which  Lord  Beaconsfield  took  in  connection  with 
this  Congress  was  a  surprise  to  most  persons.  He  was  himself 
one  of  the  Plenipotentiaries  of  England,  Lord  Salisbury  being 
the  other.  It  was  the  first  instance  in  which  a  Prime  Minister 
had  left  England,  while  Parliament  was  sitting,  to  act  as  the  rep- 
resentative of  England  abroad.  It  was  an  irresistible  temptation 
to  one  of  his  nature,  essentially  barbaric  in  its  love  of  show  and 
state  and  pomp,  and  its  manifestation  was  fitly  termed  "Jingo- 
ism" by  his  opponents.  His  journey  to  Berlin  was  almost  a  tri- 
umphal progress ;  at  every  station  crowds  turned  out  to  look 
upon  him — the  determined  enemy  of  Russia 

It  suited  the  plans  of  Prince  Bismarck  that  at  this  time  he 
should  act  as  peacemaker;  and  ho  was  a  most  effectual  one.  The 
Congress  of  Berlin  was  in  session  but  a  month  before  the  four  or 
five  distinct  and  important  questions  were  decided,  the  treaty 
prepared  and  signed.  Lord  Beaconsfield  returned  home.  If  ho 
had  been  honored  when  he  sot  out  upon  this  mission,  what  shall 
we  say  of  his  reception  when  he  returned  ?  It  was  a  series  of 
ovations,  from  the  time  that  he  landed  upon  English  soil  until  he 
reached  London.  He  had  brought  back  "  Peace  with  Honor," 
he  told  the  wildly  enthusiastic  crowds  that  had  gathered  about 
the  Foreign  Office  to  hear  the  popular  idol  speak  ;  and  the  phrase 
was  caught  up,  like  so  many  others  from  his  speeches,  and  ran 


In  Opposition.  345 

like  wildfire.  It  was  the  highest  altitude  that  he  had  yet  attain- 
ed in  the  minds  of  men.  It  was  the  highest  that  he  was  ever  to 
attain. 

Meanwhile,  what  was  the  standing  of  Mr.  Gladstone  in  the 
popular  estimation?  In  the  provinces,  Liberalism  was  still  pop- 
ular; and  the  Liberal  chief  would  still  have  been  sure  of  the 
cheers  of  a  great  provincal  meeting.  But  in  the  metropolis, 
which  often  stands  for  the  whole  country,  so  much  more  loudly 
are  its  opinions  expressed,  he  was  completely  overshadowed  by 
the  glory  of  his  rival.  Of  the  great  newspapers,  the  daily  New& 
was  the  only  one  which  did  not  laud  Beaconsfield  to  the  skies  j 
the  Spectator  and  the  Echo  were  allies  of  the  News  among  the 
weeklies,  but  there  was  not  one  besides.  Nor  was  it  the  newspa- 
pers alone  that  were  opposed  to  him;  they  reflected  the  public  sen- 
timent of  the  city.  There  now  came  a  day  when  this  man,  who 
had  held  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  his  sovereign,  and  had 
commanded  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  representatives  of 
the  people,  could  not  pass  through  the  streets  of  London  in  safe- 
ty with  his  wife  by  his  side;  but  was  obliged  to  seek  the  shelter 
of  a  friendly  hall  door,  until  the  little  mob  of  patriots  returning 
from  a  Jingo  carnival  should  have  ceased  their  threatening  dem- 
onstrations. 

Secure  in  the  consciousness  of  his  own  rectitude,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone did  not  falter  in  the  course  which  he  had  marked  out  for 
himself,  but  pursued  it  as  calmly  and  with  as  certain  a  step  as  if 
he  had  been  supported  by  such  a  majority  as  had  voted  with  the 
earliest  measures  of  his  Ministry.  The  employment  of  the  In- 
dian troops,  who  had  been  ordered  to  Malta  by  the  Government, 
gave  rise  to  a  spirited  debate.  The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
was  accused  by  Mr.  Gladstone  of  an  unconstitutional  act  in  con- 
cealing a  heavy  item  of  expense  which  he  knew  was  to  be  incur- 
red; the  Government  ought  to  have  consulted  the  House  upon 
the  subject  before  taking  any  action  at  all.  By  their  violation 
of  the  Bill  of  Eights  and  the  Indian  Government  act,  they  had 
made  a  most  dangerous  precedent.  But  the  clear  violation  of 
the  statutes  was  supported,  as  Lord  Beaconsfield  had  calculated 
it  would  be,  by  many  whose  eyes  were  dazzled  by  the  glory 
achieved  in  bringing  home  "  Peace  with  Honor."  Men  had  not 
yet  discovered  that  what  was  so  called  was,  emphatically,  "Peace 
without  Honor."  The  Government  was  supported  by  a  majority 
of  more  than  a  hundred  when  the  question  came  to  a  vote.  The 


844  In  Opposition. 

Marquis  of  Salisbury  compared  his  relative  and  predecessor,  the 
Earl  of  Derby,  to  Titus  Gates  j  an  article  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  in  the 
Nineteenth  Century  was  made  the  pretext  for  a  charge  of  treason, 
which  was  gravely  brought  against  him  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. But  the  Conservatives  themselves  saw  that  this  was  carry- 
ing things  a  little  too  far;  and  the  motion  was  quietly  dropped. 

Mr.  Gladstone  was  "  not  greatly  concerned"  about  this  accusa- 
tion ;  if  it  were  treason  to  speak  in  condemnation  of  the  Gov- 
ernment's course,  he  was  determined  that  there  should  be  no 
hall  way  guilt  j  having  been  thus  warned  of  the  consequences, 
he  went  on  exactly  as  he  had  been  doing.  In  an  address  deliver- 
ed toward  the  last  of  July  at  a  meeting  of  Liberals  in  Bermond- 
sey,hepointed  out  the  necessity  for  union  in  the  party;  postponing 
merely  sectional  questions,  out  of  consideration  to  the  elections 
which  would  follow  dissolution,  now  not  long  to  be  delayed.  He 
spoke  freely  concerning  the  course  which  the  Government  had 
pursued,  and  while  he  expressed  his  satisfaction  that  it  was  not 
the  Liberals  who  had  carried  through  such  measures,  he  regret- 
ted that  there  was  any  party  in  England  capable  of  such  a 
course. 

Shortly  before  the  close  of  the  session,  a  great  debate  upon  the 
whole  of  the  Eastern  Question  was  brought  about  by  a  resolu- 
tion which  Lord  Hartington  proposed,  affirming  that  the  House 
was  dissatisfied  with  the  provisions  of  the  Berlin  Treaty ;  the 
undefined  engagements  entered  into  by  the  Government  having 
imposed  heavy  responsibilities  upon  the  State,  with  no  means  of 
securing  their  fufillment;  such  engagements  having  been  enter- 
ed into  without  the  knowledge  or  consent  of  Parliament.  Mr. 
Gladstone's  speech  on  this  occasion  was  characterized  as  "  un- 
surpassable for  its  comprehensive  grasp  of  the  subject,  its  lu- 
cidity, point,  and  the  high  tone  which  animated  it  thi-oughout." 
Lord  Beaconsfield  had  alleged  that  his  attacks  upon  the  Govern- 
ment constituted  a  personal  provocation.  If  criticism  of  this 
kind  were  forbidden,  he  said,  they  might  as  well  shut  the  doors 
of  the  House.  "  The  liberty  of  speech  which  we  enjoy,  and  the 
publicity  which  attends  our  political  life  and  action  are,  I  be- 
lieve, the  matters  in  which  we  have  the  greatest  amount  of  ad- 
vantage over  some  other  countries  of  the  civilized  world.  That 
liberty  of  speech  is  the  liberty  which  secures  all  other  liberties, 
and  the  abridgment  of  which  would  render  all  other  liberties 
vain  and  useless  possessions." 


In  Opposition.  345 

But  the  majority  of  the  Ministers  were  still  unchanged;  and  the 
resolutions  were  lost  by   a  large  adverse   vote.     There  was  a 


The  Front  Opposition  Bench  in  a  Night  Session  During  the 
Beaconsfield  Administration. 

growing  fear,  however,  that  the  Imperial  Policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment was  working  against  the  interests  of  the  peoplo;  and  that 


346  In  Opposition. 

the  course  which  the  Ministry  had  marked  out,  would,  if  parsu- 
sued  to  its  legitimate  end,  make  the  English  Parliament  what, 
Napoleon  III.  had  made  the  French  Parliament — a  merely  form- 
al assembly  which  was  really  powerless  to  resist  his  will. 

It  would  have  been  the  part  of  wisdom  if  Beaconsfield  had 
dissolved  immediately  after  his  return  from  Berlin.  A  dissolu- 
tion was  confidently  expected  by  all,  but  their  expectations  were 
disappointed.  He  was  urged  by  some  of  his  advisers  not  to 
put  the  country  to  the  expense  of  a  general  election  at  that 
time,  as  the  drain  caused  by  bad  trade  had  been  so  heavy  as  to 
make  this  course  unadvisable.  It  would  have  given  him  an  ir- 
resistible majority  had  he  appealed  to  the  country  in  the  first 
flush  of  his  immense  popularity;  but  he  failed  to  do  so.  From 
that  time,  his  star  having  reached  its  zenith,  began  to  decline. 
There  were  many  circumstances  whick  combined  to  destroy  the 
prestige  which  the  Ministry  had  acquired;  some  of  these  would 
have  operated  equally  against  any  Government  which  might 
have  been  in  existence  at  that  time;  but  by  far  the  greater 
number  of  reasons  for  the  final  fall  of  the  Conservatives  was 
due  to  their  own  actions. 

The  secret  engagements  which  the  Plenipotentaries  had  en- 
tered into  with  both  Russia  and  Turkey  became  known,  and  did 
much  to  rob  Beaconsfield  of  all  the  honor  which  he  had  gained 
by  his  part  hi  the  treaty,  and  perhaps  more.  When  all  was 
known,  people  saw  that  this  professed  enemy  of  Russia  had  ce- 
ded to  her  all  that  she  demanded  ;  that  of  those  provisions 
of  the  treaty  of  1856  which  had  been  distasteful  to  her,  not  one 
remained  in  force.  Nor  was  this  all.  To  counterbalance  the 
concessions  which  had  thus  been  made  to  Russia,  England  had 
agreed  to  guarantee  to  Turkey  all  her  Asiatic  possessions  against 
all  invasion,  on  condition  that  Turkey  handed  over  Cyprus  to 
her,  to  be  used  as  a  place  of  arms.  Thus  it  was  made  manifest 
that  the  Congress  of  Berlin  was  a  mere  piece  of  empty  show, 
and  that  "Peace  with  Honor"  had  been  secured  by  agreeing 
beforehand  to  give  the  enemy  what  was  demanded. 

There  were  other  circumstances  besides  this,  which  was  not 
wholly  sufficient  to  have  accomplished  such  a  result.  There 
was  great  depression  of  trade  throughout  the  country;  the 
Government  was  not  of  course  responsible  for  this  in  the  first 
place;  but  their  policy,  which  had  consisted  so  laigely  of  a  se- 
ries of  surprises,  had  tended  to  unsettle  affairs  and  make  hard 


In  Opposition.  347 

times  still  harder  through  the  uncertainty  of  the  future.  They 
had  not  satisfied  the  country  party,  to  which  the  Conservatives 
are  always  so  largely  indebted  ;  the  malt  tax  remained  a  griev- 
ance, in  spite  of  the  strictures  upon  the  course  pursued  by  the 
Gladstone  Government ;  and  they  had  begun  to  clash  with  the 
Home  Rule  party,  which  was  then  beginning  a  new  life.  The 
former  leader  of  this  organization,  Mr.  Butt,  had  long  been  fail- 
ing in  health,  and  of  late  months  his  place  had  been  supplied  by 
a  young  man  who  was  destined  to  become  far  more  prominent 
than  Mr.  Butt — the  most  remarkable  politician,  says  McCarthy, 
who  had  arisen  on  the  field  of  Irish  politics  since  the  day  when 
John  Mitchell  was  conveyed  away  from  Dublin  to  Bermuda.  This 
was  Charles  Stewart  Parnell, whose  obstructive  policy  was,  during 
this  administration,  highly  successful.  The  Government  was 
blamed  for  allowing  the  course  of  legislation  to  be  thus  imped- 
ed ;  but  good-natured  men  of  respectable  ability  and  no  great 
force  of  character,  like  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  were 
hnable  to  come  off  victor  in  a  contest  where  such  tactics  were 
employed.  A  new  chapter  of  the  Irish  Question  would  begin  be- 
fore the  Eastern  difficulty  was  fairly  settled;  and  those  who  dis- 
liked the  prospect  blamed  the  Government  that  it  should  be  so. 

In  addition  to  all  this,  there  was  an  evident  disagreement 
among  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  as  to  the  general  tendency 
of  the  policy  of  the  Ministry.  In  his  speeches  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  the  Premier  always  endeavored  to  magnify  his  office,  and 
to  glorify  the  ambitious  imperial  policy  which  he  had  adopted. 
When  such  a  speech  was  made,  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  and  Mr. 
Cross  would  follow  it  up  with  explanations  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons of  all  the  questionable  points  and  reduced  to  the  most 
practicable  limits  the  objects  of  the  ruling  foreign  policy. 

Mr.  Gladstone  having  announced  his  intention  of  retiring 
from  the  representation  of  Greenwich  at  the  next  general  elec- 
tion, paid  a  farewell  visit  to  his  constituency  Nov.  30th.  In  a 
speech  delivered  before  a  meeting  of  the  Liberal  Association,  he 
urged  upon  them  the  necessity  for  united  action  ;  the  votes 
which  the  Liberal  party  had  given  to  its  opponent  at  the  last 
election  were  twenty-six  in  number;  and  the  Government  had  at 
times  been  carried  on  for  years  with  a  majority  no  greater.  At  a 
subsequent  meeting,  an  address  was  presented,  expressing  the 
regret  of  his  constituents  that  he  should  have  thought  it  nece°- 
sary  to  retire  from  the  representation  of  this  borough. 


348 


In  Opposition. 


The  position  of  the  Government  with  regard  to  Eussia  was  a 
subject  upon  which  he  dwelt  with  special  emphasis  in  his  reply 
to  this  address,  showing  that  while  the  Opposition  had  been 
charged  with  undue  leanings  to  that  Power,  the  Ministry  had  been 
the  real  friend  of  her  ambition  j  since  it  was  the  British  Govern- 
ment which  had  been  concerned  in  the  conclusion  of  that  treaty 


Sir  Stafford  Northcote  (afterward  Earl  of  Iddesleigh). 

which  had  given  her  all  that  she  had  lost  in  1856.  Passing  from 
this  topic  to  the  subject  of  the  Afghan  War,  which  was  then  just 
begun,  he  blamed  the  Government  severely  for  its  injustice  to  an 
inferior  Power,  on  which  it  had  forced  a  war. 

This  war  was  another  thing  which  contributed  to  make  the 
Ministry  less  popular.  The  Ameer  hud  declined  to  receive  Euro- 
pean Residents  at  his  capital ;  Russia,  in  violation  of  the  treaty  by 


In  Opposition.  349 

which  she  had  covenanted  to  exercise  no  influence  in  Afghanis- 
tan, sent  a  Mission  thither,  which,  when  the  English  Govern- 
ment remonstrated,  she  declared  was  no  more  than  a  Mission  of 
courtesy.  The  Government  "  sang  small  to  Russia,"  as  Mr. 
Gladstone  expressed  it,  but  dispatched  troops  to  Afghanistan,  to 
force  the  Ameer  to  receive  an  English  Resident.  The  war  had 
been  begun  upon  the  responsibility  of  the  Ministry;  Parliament 
would  shortly  be  called  upon  to  divide  the  responsibility  with 
them ;  and  to  the  people,  who  would  soon  have  to  indorse  or  re- 
pudiate the  policy  of  the  Government,  he  called  for  a  rebuke  of 
this  great  injustice.  His  closing  words  are  significant,  not  only 
in  connection  with  this  long-past  war,  but  considered  as  a  com- 
mentary upon  all  governmental  action: 

"It  is  written  in  the  eternal  laws  of  the  universe  of  God  that 
sin  shall  be  followed  by  suffering.  An  unjust  war  is  a  tremend- 
ous sin.  The  question  which  you  have  to  consider  is  whether 
this  war  is  just  or  unjust.  So  far  as  I  am  able  to  collect  the  evi- 
dence, it  is  unjust.  It  fills  me  with  the  greatest  alarm  lest  it 
should  be  proved  to  be  grossly  and  totally  unjust.  If  so,  we 
should  come  under  the  stroke  of  the  everlasting  law  that  suffer- 
ing shall  follow  sin;  and  the  day  will  arrive,  come  it  soon  or 
come  it  late,  when  the  people  of  England  will  discover  that 
national  injustice  is  the  surest  road  to  national  downfall." 

There  was  a  short  session  of  Parliament  held  in  December, 
during  which  there  was  a  long  debate  upon  this  war.  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's speech  was  a  powerful  arraignment  of  the  Government  for 
the  blunders  and  the  negligence  which,  joined  to  its  insane  desire 
for  the  extension  of  its  imperial  policy,  had  led  to  this  war.  The 
vote  of  censure  was,  however,  defeated ;  though  it  is  not  improb- 
able that  many  voted  for  the  Government  who  were  really  op- 
posed to  this  war,  but  would  not  lend  their  voice  to  call  for  the 
downfall  of  Disraeli. 

A  question  which  engaged  the  attention  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons early  in  the  session  of  1879  was  the  claims  of  Greece, 
which  had  been  provided  for  by  a  Protocol  of  the  Berlin  Con- 
gress; but  which  the  English  Government  had  taken  no  steps 
toward  recognizing.  Mr.  Gladstone  supported  the  resolution 
which  called  for  an  inquiry  into  the  state  of  the  case,  and  urged 
the  redemption  of  the  pledges  which  had  been  given  by  England. 
The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  replied  that  the  matter  was 
one  which  engaged  the  serious  attention  of  the  Government,  and 


350  In  Opposition. 

he  hoped  that  his  assurance  of  that  fact  would  be  sufficient  for 
the  House.  It  was  sufficient,  and  the  question  was  allowed  to 
rest  upon  the  promise  of  the  Government;  a  promise,  which,  we 
need  hardly  say,  there  was  never  any  attempt  made  to  fulfill. 

There  was  a  debate  of  some  importance  upon  the  use  which 
the  Beaconsfield  Ministry  had  made  of  the  Prerogative;  and  a 
motion  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Dillwyn,  affirming  that  it  was 
necessary  to  look  more  strictly  into  the  mode  and  limits  of  its 
action,  in  order  to  correct  the  growing  extension  and  abuse  of  it 
by  the  Ministry,  who  had  used  the  supposed  personal  interposi- 
tion of  the  Sovereign  to  forward  their  policy.  Mr.  Gladstone 
said  that  this  abuse  of  the  Prerogative  had  been  sanctioned  in 
every  case  by  a  large  majority,  and  that  censure  ought  to  be  di- 
rected against  the  whole  number  of  members  who  composed  that 
majority. 

After  a  debate  upon  the  Zulu  war,  which  is  of  little  interest 
now,  we  find  what  is  the  first  instance  of  serious  conflict  be- 
tween Mr.  Gladstone  and  Mr.  Parnell.  The  Speaker  had  order- 
ed notes  of  the  proceedings  and  debates  of  the  House  to  be  tak- 
en for  his  own  private  use.  The  Home  Rulers  interpreted  this 
as  aimed  especially  against  their  small  but  active  party ;  and  Mr. 
Parnell  brought  forward  a  resolution  that  this  was  contrary  to 
precedent,  a  breach  of  the  privileges  of  Parliament,  and  a  dan- 
ger to  the  liberty  and  independence  of  debate.  Mr.  Gladstone 
was  among  the  first  to  speak  upon  the  subject,  after  the  resolu- 
tion had  been  proposed.  It  was  the  first  instance  which  he  had 
witnessed  of  a  House  impugning  the  motives  of  its  Speaker.  He 
demanded  that  the  motion  should  be  subjected  to  a  direct  nega- 
tive ;  this  was  done,  and  a  majority  of  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
eight,  in  a  House  but  half  full,  demonstrated  that  the  Home 
Rulers  could  not  depend  on  any  one  but  the  immediate  members 
of  their  own  party  in  such  a  question. 

The  Liberals,  led  by  Mr.  Gladstone  and  Lord  Hartington, 
made  a  gallant  effort  to  abolish  corporal  punishment  in  the 
army;  but  the  Government,  so  rapidly  losing  prestige  outside, 
was  still  strong  in  the  House ;  and  they  were  not  successful. 

Nor  was  the  financial  policy  such  as  the  great  financier  could 
approve.  The  course  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  in 
submitting  two  budgets  a  year,  was  subversive  of  the  principle 
that  the  Government  should  be  immediately  dependent  upon 
Parliament  for  a  ratification  of  its  plans  in  this  respect.  Mr. 


In  Opposition. 


351 


Gladstone's  denunciations  of  the  Government  have  been  called 
unmeasured  and  unwarrantable ;  but  surely  he  whose  own  ex- 
cellence in  this  department  of  the  Administration  has  never  been 
questioned  was  entitled  to  judge  of  the  success  which  others  had 
attained,  and  the  measure  of  praise  or  censure  which  justly  be- 
longed to  them.  He  had  done  the  work  well ;  the  present  Gov- 
ernment was  not  content  until  it  had  reversed  every  point  of  his 
domestic  policy.  The  future  pointed  out  which  was  the  wiser 
course. 


John  Stuart  Mill. 

It  would  seem,  indeed,  that  the  Conservative  party  has  never 
possessed  the  wisdom  of  the  Liberals,  in  dealing  with  questions 
which  affect  the  domestic  policy  of  the  Government.  The  Tories 
have  never  led  in  such  matters,  but  have  been  content  to  follow,  at 
long  distances  in  some  cases,  in  the  footsteps  of  their  rivals  on 
the  path  of  reform.  Part  of  this  disposition  is  doubtless  due  to 
the  composition  of  the  party,  which  includes  many  timid  and 
fearful  souls.  Some  there  are,  as  Mr.  Gladstone  once  pointed  out 
in  speaking  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  other  leaders,  who  have  been 
as  far  advanced  as  the  Liberal  leaders  themselves  ;  but  there  is 


In  Opposition.  353 

much  moaning  in  John  Stuart  Mill's  dictum  regarding  this  party. 
He  had  been  accused  of  saying  that  they  were  all  stupid.  "  I 
did  not  say  that  all  Conservatives  were  stupid,"  he  replied,  with 
elaborate  care;  "what  I  did  say  was  that  all  stupid  people  are 
Conservatives." 

The  House  of  Commons  was  becoming  demoralized.  What 
would  have  been  the  case  if  Mr.  Disraeli  had  retained  the  leader- 
ship, it  is  impossible  to  say ;  but  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  generally 
tried  to  be  strong  where  he  ought  to  have  been  yielding,  and 
was  frequently  compelled  to  be  yielding  where  he  ought  to  have 
been  strong.  A  scheme  for  university  education  in  Ireland  was 
brought  in  by  the  Government,  which  was  really  a  mutilation  of 
Mr.  Gladstone's  rejected  measure.  It  was  carried  through  both 
Houses  very  quickly,  and  the  Ministers  flattered  themselves  that 
they  had  secured  the  attachment  of  the  Irish  without  alienating 
their  Conservative  supporters  in  Great  Britain.  But  the  Irish 
were  not  conciliated  by  a  law  which  did  not  concede  nearly 
enough  of  their  demands;  and  many  of  the  Non-conformists  were 
offended  even  by  this  moderate  measure. 

The  Liberals  loudly  demanded  dissolution.  The  Parliament 
would  expire  by  limitation  the  next  year,  and  many  of  the  Op- 
position, among  whom  Mr.  Gladstone  was  the  most  prominent, 
urged  that  the  Parliament  ought  not  to  run  to  its  full  length. 
But  the  Government  would  not  listen  to  this  argument;  indeed, 
the  persistency  with  which  they  shut  their  ears  to  it  caused  the 
frequent  remark  that  they  were  afraid  to  meet  the  people  at  the 
polls.  This  once  said,  it  was  eagerly  caught  up  by  the  Liberals, 
who  insisted  vehemently  that  all  they  wished  was  an  appeal  to 
the  people.  Perhaps  in  their  hearts  they  were  not  at  all  certain 
of  the  effect  of  such  an  appeal ;  but  they  kept  up  a  bold  front 
and  persistently  demanded  dissolution.  The  more  the  challenge 
was  repeated,  the  more  the  Government  held  back.  The  result 
of  several  bye-elections  during  the  autumn  of  1879  and  the  suc- 
ceeding winter  revived  the  spirits  of  the  Conservatives,  which 
had  begun  to  droop  under  the  persistent  boasts  of  the  rival  par- 
ty ;  and  of  course  had  the  opposite  effect  upon  the  Liberals.  It 
mattered  little  that  in  the  most  notable  of  these  Conservative 
victories  the  question  had  been  one  of  men  rather  than  of  par- 
ties, and  that  the  personal  popularity  of  the  successful  candidate 
was  such  that  defeat  would  have  been  most  improbable;  the  ef- 
fect upon  the  parties  was  the  same. 

23 


354 


In  Opposition.  355 

Becoming  the  candidate  for  Midlothian,  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  year  1879  Mr.  Gladstone  visited  Scotland  and  poured  out 
the  floods  of  his  eloquence  in  vigorous  attacks  on  the  Govern- 
ment and  its  policy.  His  progress  through  "the  land  o'  cakes" 
was  a  continued  ovation  from  all  classes.  Receptions,  proces- 
sions, illuminations,  followed  one  after  the  other,  while  the 
"Grand  Old  Man"  delivered  his  most  telling  and  sledge-hammer- 
like  blows  upon  his  opponents.  Scotland  has  generally  been 
loyal  to  her  eminent  son,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  people  knew  no  bounds. 

Returned  to  the  House  by  his  usual  triumphant  majority,  Par- 
liament met  in  February,  and  there  was  no  promise  of  a  dis- 
solution before  the  expiration  of  the  legal  term.  It  was  to  be 
a  fair  working  session,  the  Government  declared.  Suddenly,  to 
the  surprise  of  all,  it  was  announced  that  they  had  accepted  Mr. 
Gladstone's  challenge;  they  would  dissolve  at  the  Easter  recess. 
The  dissolution  accordingly  took  place  March  24th,  1880,  and 
writs  were  at  once  issued  for  a  new  election.  For  a  graphic  de- 
scription of  the  result,  the  reader  is  advised  to  turn  back  to  the 
page  where  Mr.  Disraeli's  words  are  quoted  as  the  most  eloquent 
account  of  the  rout  of  the  Opposition  in  Lord  Derby's  time. 
Put  "Ministerial"  in  place  of  "Opposition,"  and  the  change 
makes  it  entirely  applicable. 

With  all  the  buoyancy  of  youth,  Mr.  Gladstone  immediately 
returned  to  Scotland,  and  the  scenes  of  his  just  previous  visit 
and  election  were  gone  through  with  again,  with,  if  possible, 
more  enthusiasm  than  before.  Speech  followed  speech,  and  po- 
litical excitement  raged  in  all  its  intensity.  Of  the  result  here 
and  over  the  whole  kingdom,  there  is  no  need  to  speak.  Local 
influence  and  opposition  in  every  shape  were  doomed  to  igno- 
minious failure.  Young  Lord  Rosebery,  standing  by  his  side  on 
the  balcony  of  the  Rosebery  mansion  at  Edinburgh  on  the  even- 
ing of  April  5th,  declared  to  the  delighted  populace  heaving  and 
cheering  below,  that  "it  was  a  great  night  for  Midlothian,  for 
Scotland,  for  Great  Britain,  and  for  the  world,"  whilst  a  wag  in 
the  crowd  capped  the  climax  by  adding,  "and  a  bad  night  for 
Dizzy." 

For  the  very  first  day  of  the  election  demonstrated  that  the 
Conservatives  would  be  defeated.  The  certainty  was  made  more 
apparent  as  time  went  on  ;  defeat  became  disaster;  disaster  be- 
came utter  rout.  The  Liberals  came  back  to  power  with  a  ma- 


356 


In  Opposition. 


jority  of  a  hundred  and  twenty — unparalleled  in  the  history  of 
the  party. 

There  had  been  one  man  who  had  brought  this  about,  by  a 
persistence  under  defeat  which  had  scarcely  been  rivalled  by 
Beaconsfield  himself.  When  others  would  have  sat  still,  folding 
their  hands  when  they  saw  that  failure  was  inevitable  at  the 


Mr.  Gladstone  Speaking  at  Lord  Rosebery's  House  after  the  Election. 

time,  he  had  labored.  "  He  had  dragged  his  party  after  him 
into  many  a  danger.  He  had  compelled  them  more  than  once 
to  fight  where  many  of  them  would  fain  have  held  back,  and 
where  none  of  them  saw  any  chance  of  victory.  Now,  at  last, 
the  battle  had  been  given  into  his  hands,  and  it  was  a  matter  of 
necessity  that  the  triumph  should  bring  back  to  power  the  man 
whose  energy  and  eloquence  had  inspired  the  struggle/'  To  him 


In  Opposition.  357 

all   eyes  in  Britain  were  turned  as  the  next  Prime  Minister. 
But  the  Queen,  whose  shining  domestic  virtues  are  not  incom- 
patible with  an  overweening  appreciation  of  her  own  dignity, 


Chancellor  Northcote  Announcing  the  Dissolution  of  Parliament. 

could  not  forgive  the  overthrow  of  the  Minister  who  had  done 
so  much  to  magnify  the  respect  paid  her.  To  Beaconsfield  she 
owed,  not  only  the  empty  title  of  "Empress  of  India,"  but  a 
more  real  extension  of  the  power  of  the  Crown,  since  his  Grov- 


358  In  Opposition. 

eminent  had  so  frequently  invoked  the  royal  Prerogative.  To 
the  man  who  had  opposed  such  measures,  and  successfully,  she 
was  not  willing  to  accord  the  reward  which  the  popular  voice 
would  have  given  him.  The  Liberals  must  certainly  have  the 
direction  of  affairs;  but  Mr.  Gladstone  should  not  be  at  the  head 
of  the  new  Ministry.  The  post  was  offered  to  Lord  Hartington, 
the  chosen  leader  of  the  party  and  the  chief  figure  in  the  Oppo- 
sition— whenever  Mr.  Gladstone  was  absent.  But  the  noble  Mar- 
quis declined  the  offer  of  the  post,  and  assured  Her  Majesty  that 
there  was  only  one  Liberal  Premier  possible.  The  Queen  was 
obdurate,  and  persisted.  Lord  Granville,  the  leading  Liberal  in 
the  House  of  Lords,  was  sent  for;  he  attended  Her  Majesty,  but 
declined,  like  his  Commoner  associate,  to  receive  the  command 
to  form  a  Ministry  ;  there  was  but  one  man,  he  assured  the 
Queen,  who  could  fill  that  position.  The  case  was  a  hopeless 
one.  The  Liberal  party  was  indeed  united  in  this  hour  of  tri- 
umph. The  Queen  sent  for  Mr.  Gladstone  at  last,  and  command- 
ed him  to  form  a  Cabinet.  There  was  no  hesitation  this  time. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE  SECOND  GLADSTONE  MINISTRY,. 

Great  Liberal  Majority — Importance  of  the  Irish  Question— Mr.  Bradlaugh  in 
Parliament — Lord  Randolph  Chnrchill — Great  Expectations  from  the 
Gladstone  Ministry— Treaty  of  Berlin  Concerning  Montenegro— Claims 
of  Greece— Trying  to  Adjust  Domestic  Taxes— Game  Laws — Post-office 
Department — Illness  of  Mr.  Gladstone — Irish  Laud  Law  not  Satisfactory 
— Peace  Preservation  Act — Irish  Evictions — Home  Rulers — Land  League 
— Long  Debate —Coercion  Bills— Eloquent  Speech  of  John  Bright — Mem- 
orable Scene  in  the  House  of  Commons — Ludicrous  Incidents— Mr.  Par- 
Hell  and  Irish  Legislation— Final  Passage  of  the  Irish  Bill. 

'HE  immense  majority  which  had  swept  Mr.  Gladstone  into 
power  did  not  remove  the  first  difficulty  which  presented 
itself  after  his  appointment  as  First  Minister  of  the 
Crown.  If  he  had  had  about  six  Cabinets  to  form,  it  might 
have  been  all  very  well ;  but  having  only  one,  there  was  con- 
siderable difficulty  in  deciding  upon  the  rival  claims  of  the  many 
men  who  were  thought  to  be  entitled  to  positions  in  it.  Of 
course  Lord  Hartington,  who  had  been  the  leader  of  the  Lib- 
eral party  under  peculiarly  trying  circumstances,  being  con- 
stantly overshadowed  by  Mr.  Gladstone  himself,  who  could  not 
keep  away  from  the  House  of  Commons  or  political  life  in  gen- 
eral, must  be  included  in  it;  equally  certain  was  it  that  Lord 
Granville  must  be  offered  a  post  of  importance.  Mr.  Bright  was 
likewise  necessary;  and,  much  to  the  dismay  of  the  Whigs,  the 
Radicals  demanded  recognition.  Radicalism  was  indeed  what 
had  helped  to  swell  the  Liberal  majority  more  than  any  other 
element  except  the  party  itself;  Radicalism  was  too  formidable 
an  ally  to  be  offended  ;  it  would  be  better  to  let  the  Whigs  growl. 
Mr.  Chamberlain  and  Sir  Charles  Dilke  were  the  most  promin- 
ent men  of  this  party,  and  they  agreed  that  each  would  heartily 
support  the  other.  The  former  was  accordingly  made  Presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  the  latter,  for  whom  no  seat  in 
the  Cabinet  could  be  found,  was  made  Under-Secretary  for  For- 
eign Affairs. 

Lord  Granville  being   Foreign  Secretary,  Lord  Hartington, 

359 


360 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  361 

Secretary  for  India,  and  Mr.  Bright,  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of 
Lancaster,  there  was  but  one  more  office  of  importance  to  the 
after  history  of  the  Ministry.  This  was  filled  by  Mr.  Forster  as 
Secretary  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant. 

The  Irish  Question  was  indeed  one  of  importance.  It  was  the 
prime  cause  of  the  late  unexpected  dissolution  ;  and  Lord  Bea- 
consfield  had  characterized  the  Home  Rule  movement  as  "scarce- 
ly less  disastrous  than  pestilence  and  famine."  Perhaps  support 
of  that  movement  was  the  legitimate  outgrowth  of  that  anti- 
imperialism  which  had  brought  the  Liberals  back  to  power;  it 
became  later  the  cause  of  division  in  the  party  which  material- 
ly increased  the  strength  of  a  Conservative  Government,  and  de- 
layed still  longer  the  justice  for  which  Ireland  had  been  crying 
out  so  long.  The  Irish  vote,  while  it  was  not  lai'ge  enough  in 
many  constituencies  to  send  a  representative  to  Parliament,  was 
yet  often  the  casting  vote  between  Liberals  and  Conservatives. 
In  the  election  of  1880  their  voice  was  wholly  for  the  Liberals; 
not  because  they  were  Liberals,  but  because  they  were  not  To- 
ries. "Anything  to  beat  Beaconsfield,"  was  the  motto  under 
which  they  rallied ;  if  we  may  be  permitted  so  to  parody  a  cam- 
paign battle-cry  of  American  politics. 

The  places  in  the  Cabinet  having  all  been  filled,  there  were 
some  men  omitted  who  must  be  placated  ;  and  to  these  a  title 
wasoffered.  Among  them,  Mr.  Lowe  was  the  chief.  Mr.Lowewas 
not  reliable  as  a  supporter  of  his  chief;  he  was  too  incapable  of 
sacrificing  his  own  opinion  or  abandoning  his  own  ideas  ever  to 
become  a  successful  assistant  to  any  minister;  Mr.  Gladstone 
had  tried  to  get  on  with  him,  but  was  well  assured  by  that  ex- 
perience that  it  would  be  much  easier  to  get  on  without  him. 
Mr.  Lowe  accordingly  disappeared  from  the  House  of  Com- 
mons as  Lord  Sherbrooke  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords. 
But  the  bitter,  brilliant  speaker,  a  man  of  splendid  gifts  and 
wide  and  original  ideas,  as  well  as  profoundly  cultured,  seemed 
to  find  the  atmosphere  of  the  Upper  House  anything  but  stimu- 
lating. He  sank  into  a  state  which  was  almost  apathy,  as  com- 
pared with  the  fieriness  of  Mr.  Lowe,  and  he  seldom  addressed 
the  Peers  upon  the  subjects  of  debate. 

Among  the  most  remarkable  circumstances  attending  this 
change  of  Ministry,  was  the  conversion  of  Lord  Derby.  This 
nobleman  had,  as  we  have  already  seen,  held  no  mean  post  in 
the  late  Conservative  Cabinet,  which  he  had  resigned  when  he  saw 


362 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 


that  the  course  which  the  Foreign  Minister  was  expected  to  pur- 
sue  was  one  which  he  could  not  follow.  He  was  openly  compared 
to  Titus  Gates  by  a  political  ally  and  a  near  relative;  but  Lord 
Salisbury,  in  so  resenting  his  change  of  political  opinions,  was 
apparently  oblivious  of  the  fact  that  his  chief  had  begun  life  as 
a  Eadicul  of  the  most  pronounced  type.  At  any  rate,  the  Earl 
of  Derby  now  ranked  himself  as  a  Liberal  Peer. 

There  had  been  other  changes  than  this.     Mr.  Bright,  who  had 
been  regarded  as  a  Radical  of  the  Radicals,  when  he  first  came  in- 


Lord  Granville. 

to  political  prominence,  had  paled  into  comparative  conservatism 
beside  the  new  apostles  of  that  school,  of  whom  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain was  the  accepted  representative.  Sir  Charles  Dilke,  who 
had  openly  announced  himself  as  a  Republican,  and  been  stern- 
ly rebuked  therefor  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  had  now  softened  his  be- 
lief so  far  as  to  accept  a  post  in  Mr.  Gladstone's  Ministry. 

Lord  Selborne's  political  views,  on  the  other  hand,  had  been 
modified  as  gradually  as  Mr.  Gladstone's  own  ;  and  even  at  this 
date,  he  did  not  admit  that  he  was  altogether  a  Liberal,  but 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 


363 


styled  himself  a  Liberal-Conservative.    As  Sir  Eoundell  Palmer, 
he  had  opposed  the  action  of  the  Ministry  in   the  disestablish- 


Members  of  a  New  Parliament  Signing  the  Roll. 

ment  of  the  Irish  Church  ;  but  he  had  proved  himself  a  sound 
lawyer  and  an  honorable  politician  j  so  that  his  appointment  as 
Lord  Chancellor  and  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal  was  felt  to  be  a 
real  recognition  of  desert. 


364  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

Great  interest  was  awakened  during  this  session  concerning  the 
admission  of  Mr.  Charles  Bradlaugh  to  the  House  of  Commons. 
He  was  born  near  London  in  1833,  of  very  poor  parents,  and  early 
gave  promise  of  a  remarkable  career.  Having  become  an  atheist, 
and  being  widely  known  as  a  writer  and  speaker  upon  atheistical 
subjects,  his  next  achievement  was  to  obtain  an  election  to  Parlia- 
ment. On  the  3d  of  May  he  presented  himself  at  the  table  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  said  that  he  wished  to  be  allowed  to  make 
affirmation,  instead  of  taking  the  oath  in  the  usual  manner.  His 
reason  was  well  known  to  be  his  aversion  to  acknowledging  the 
supremacy  of  the  Christian  religion,  or,  indeed,  any  religion  at  all, 
as  he  must  do  in  taking  an  oath. 

The  Speaker  declined  to  take  the  responsibility  of  a  decision,  and 
left  the  matter  to  the  judgment  of  the  House.  It  was  proposed  to 
appoint  a  select  committee  to  decide  the  question,  and  the  motion 
was  approved  by  the  Opposition  as  well  as  by  the  Government. 
The  Government,  however,  aroused  the  indignation  of  the  House 
0y  proposing  the  names  of  several  members  who  had  recently  taken 
office,  and  were  therefore  not  in  the  strictest  sense  members  of  the 
House,  since  they  were  obliged  to  go  before  their  constituents  again. 
The  ministry  was  accused  of  weakness  in  its  desire  to  hurry  matters, 
and  the  accusation  was  perhaps  not  undeserved.  After  a  sharp 
debate,  however,  the  Government  carried  its  point,  and  the  com- 
mittee was  nominated. 

Mr.  Bradlaugh  had  claimed  the  right  to  make  an  affirmation 
under  the  Parliamentary  Oaths  Act;  but  the  committee  decided, 
by  the  casting  vote  of  the  chairman,  that  Mr.  Bradlaugh  did  not 
belong  to  the  privileged  classes  of  Moravians  and  Quakers,  who 
were  the  persons  for  whose  benefit  this  act  had  been  passed. 

This  was  an  unexpected  difficulty  for  the  Government,  which 
had  fully  expected  the  decision  to  be  favorable  to  Mr.  Bradlaugh. 
The  Opposition  flattered  itself  that  it  had  got  rid  of  Mr.  Bradlaugh, 
but  now  arose  a  new  difficulty.  Mr.  Bradlaugh  presented  himself 
at  the  table  of  the  House  of  Commons  again  and  announced  that 
he  was  ready  to  take  the  oath. 

A  new  committee  was  appointed,  and  this  authority  decided  that 
Mr.  Bradlaugh  ought  not  to  be  permitted  to  take  the  oath,  though 
it  might  be  wise  to  let  him  affirm.  Mr.  Labouchere,  his  colleague 


365 


366  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

in  the  representation  of  Northampton,  offered  a  resolution  declaring 
his  right  to  make  affirmation.  This  resolution  was  supported  by 
the  Prime  Minister;  but  this  measure,  the  first  trial  of  strength 
between  the  Ministry  and  the  Opposition,  if  a  question  which 
involved  no  part  of  the  Government's  policy  could  be  so  called 
resulted  in  a  defeat  to  the  Cabinet's  cause.  The  resolution  was  lost  by 
a  vote  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  to  two  hundred  and  thirty. 

But  Mr.  Bradlaugh  was  not  willing  to  accept  defeat.  On  the 
following  day  he  presented  himself  at  the  table  to  be  sworn.  The 
Speaker  gravely  informed  him  of  the  resolution  of  the  House,  and 
requested  him  to  withdraw.  He  claimed  the  privilege  of  being 
heard  at  the  bar  of  the  House,  and  this  he  was  not  refused.  His 
speech  was  an  eloquent  one,  but  it  did  not  avail  him.  Advancing 
at  its  conclusion  to  the  table,  he  again  demanded  that  the  oath  be 
administered;  the  sergeant-at-arrus  touched  him  on  the  shoulder, 
and  he  again  retired  below  the  bar,  but  only  to  advance  and  plead, 
from  the  very  floor  of  the  House,  for  what  he  believed  to  be  his 
right.  The  Speaker  appealed  to  the  House,  and  Mr.  Bradlaugh 
was  arrested  in  due  form. 

He  was  not  kept  under  restraint  for  a  long  time,  however,  but 
was  released  in  the  course  of  the  week.  Immediately  upon  his 
release,  the  Government  introduced  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that 
any  one  claiming  the  privilege  of  making  an  affirmation  should  be 
allowed  to  do  so,  at  his  own  risk  of  the  statutory  penalties  provided 
in  case  of  any  one  not  duly  qualified  to  sit  and  vote,  attempting  to 
do  so.  This  .resolution  was  carried,  and  under  it  Mr.  Bradlaugh 
was  finally  allowed  to  take  his  seat.  An  action  was  immediately 
brought  against  him,  however,  to  recover  heavy  penalties  for  having 
sat  and  voted  without  having  previously  taken  the  oath.  As  the 
penalty  for  each  vote  so  cast  was  £500,  the  sum  claimed  rapidly 
grew  to  tremendous  proportions. 

The  Bradlaugh  episode  was  a  windfall  to  the  Conservatives,  dis- 
heartened as  they  had  been  by  the  severe  losses  in  the  late  election. 
They  saw  that  the  immense  Liberal  majority  was  not  a  sure  support 
of  the  Government ;  that  the  party  was  not  really  as  united  as  the 
leader  would  have  had  it.  It  was  an  unexpected  source  of  strength ; 
if  not  of  absolute  power  in  debate,  it  was  yet  a  powerful  weapon 
•with  which  to  annoy  the  Ministry. 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 


867 


There  was  yet  another  effect  of  the  Brad  laugh  controversy.  Out 
of  it  arose  the  Fourth  Party,  as  it  was  called,  derisively  at  first. 
In  the  House  of  Commons  there  was  the  son  of  a  great  Tory  duke, 
to  whom  nobody  had  ever  paid  much  attention.  He  had  been 
listened  to,  of  couise,  but  simply  because  he  was  the  son  of  the 


Lard  Randolph  Churchill. 

Duke  of  Marlborough ;  not  for  any  interest  which  he  had  been 
able  to  excite  by  his  speeches.  This  was  a  golden  opportunity, 
and  he  seized  upon  it.  He  was  the  bitter  opponent  of  the  atheistic 
claimant  of  a  seat,  and  of  the  Government  which  supported  that 
claim. 

All  the  members  laughed  at  the  young  Lord  Randolph  Churchill, 
as  they  have  laughed  in  other  days  at  many  who  became  famous  in 
spite  of  the  laughter;  remembering  Burke  and  Disraeli,  Lord 


368  Tfie  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

Randolph  paid  no  attention  to  the  ridicule,  and  spoke  when  he 
pleased  ;  he  also  said  what  he  pleased,  regardless  of  the  Conserva- 
tive traditions  which  were  constantly  being  thrown  at  his  head. 
He  soon  found  adherents.  In  the  days  of  the  Adullamites,  Mr. 
Bright  had  quoted  authorities  to  prove  that  two  men  might  con- 
stitute a  party  :  Lord  Randolph  had  a  superabundance  of  followers, 
reckoned  on  that  basis,  for,  including  the  leader,  the  Fourth  Party 
soon  numbered  four  members.  These  fated  invigorators  of  the 
enervated  Tory  Party  were  Sir  Henry  Wolff,  Mr.  Gorst  and  Mr. 
Arthur  Balfour. 

When  the  intentions  of  the  new  party  were  announced  by  its 
leaders,  the  gentlemen  sitting  on  the  Treasury  benches  were  accus- 
tomed to  smile  in  a  good-natured  sort  of  way,  as  indulgent  elders 
smile  at  wayward  children;  the  gentlemen  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  House  would  reflect  this  smile;  and  perhaps  it  would  often 
extend  to  the  small  Third  Party,  the  Parnellites.  But  this  was 
soon  changed.  They  saw  that  the  Conservative  party,  since  Sir 
Stafford  Northcote  had  succeeded  Mr.  Disraeli  as  its  leader  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  had  lost  "all  of  its  passion  and  most  of  its 
vitality."  Its  chief  characteristic,  says  a  keen-sighted  critic,  ap- 
peared to  be  a  "  comprehensive  amiability."  But  there  was  noth- 
ing amiable  about  the  Fourth  Party,  politically  considered.  It 
was  their  business  to  annoy  and  obstruct  the  Government;  and 
their  perseverance  and  unflagging  energy  certainly  entitled  them 
to  the  success  which  they  obtained. 

Passing  now  from  the  difficulties  which  encompassed  the  Gov- 
ernment in  its  foreign  policy,  we  come  to  the  domestic  legislation. 
It  was  but  a  broken  session,  and  there  was  not  much  accomplished 
in  this  direction.  The  supplementary  budget  was  introduced  by 
Mr.  Gladstone  early  in  June;  the  Premier  holding  the  double 
office  of  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury  and  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer. It  was  proposed  to  reduce  the  tax  on  light  foreign  wines, 
to  re-adjust  the  tax  upon  alcoholic  liquors;  to  abolish  the  malt-tax, 
and  substitute  a  duty  upon  beer;  and  to  supply  the  deficiency 
which  these  changes  would  create  by  adding  a  penny  to  the 
income  tax. 

This  budget  was  accepted  with  slight  modifications,  though  there 
was  some  dissatisfaction  expressed  that  it  said  nothing  about  the 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  369 

Indian  deficiency ;  Mr.  Gladstone  stating  in  the  speech  with  which 
he  introduced  the  financial  scheme  of  the  Government,  that  he  was 
not  as  yet  prepared  to  make  any  statement  on  that  subject. 

The  old  measure  to  permit  the  burial  of  Non-conformists  in 
church  yards  with  the  rites  of  the  sect  to  which  their  friends  be- 
longed was  again  brought  forward  this  session.  It  originated  in 
the  House  of  Lords  and  was  finally  carried. 


Sir  William  Vernon  Harcourt. 

Other  very  important  legislation  was  carried  this  session 
Among  this  was  an  amendment  to  the  iniquitous  game  laws. 
Hitherto  no  tenant  farmer  dared  kill  a  hare  or  rabbit,  no  mattei 
how  his  crops  were  damaged,  and  these  pests  were  preserved  for 
the  landlords'  sport.  Harcourts'  "  Hare  and  Rabbit  Bill,"  how- 
ever, gave  the  right  to  the  tenant  to  kill  in  certain  seasons,  and 
made  such  right  inalienable.  There  was  also  a  measure  for  the 

remission  of  cumulative  penalties  for  failure  to  vaccinate,  but  the 
24 


370  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

Government  was  obliged  to  withdraw  it,  as  it  was  bitterly  opposed 
by  many  Liberals  as  well  as  Conservatives.  The  Government 
also  brought  forward  a  bill  to  regulate  the  responsibility  of  em- 
ployers with  regard  to  accidents  by  which  their  workmen  might 
be  injured.  Under  the  old  law,  an  employer  was  not  responsible 
unless  the  accident  were  proved  to  be  the  result  of  his  direct  personal 
negligence ;  the  bill  thus  introduced  made  his  immediate  delegate 
or  person  implied  as  such,  his  full  representative. 

While  this  bill  did  not  go  far  enough  to  please  the  advocates  of 
the  workingmen,  it  went  too  far  to  please  the  Lords,  who  desired 
to  limit  its  operation  to  the  term  of  two  years.  The  Commons 
extended  this  to  seven,  when  the  bill  came  down  again  with  the 
amendment  of  the  Peers,  and  the  Upper  Chamber  accepted  this 
compromise. 

This  action  was  perhaps  due  to  the  fact  that  the  workingman 
was  represented  in  this  Parliament  as  he  had  never  been  before. 
For  the  first  time  in  English  history,  men  who  had  supported 
themselves  and  their  families  by  actual  manual  labor  sat  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  took  part  in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 
There  had  been  theorists  there,  who  had  contended  for  the  rights 
of  the  lower  classes  as  something  in  which  they  took  a  kindly 
interest  or  which  they  advocated  because,  without  any  specia 
regard  for  the  workingman  individually,  they  saw  that  his  welfare 
meant  the  welfare  of  all  other  classes ;  but  never  before  had  one 
of  themselves  spoken  for  him.  It  was  the  direct  result,  the  ultra 
Tories  told  each  other,  of  that  Reform  Bill,  which  had  been 
entirely  too  sweeping  in  its  provisions;  and  the  Tory  advocates  of 
the  Reform  Bill  were  forced  to  admit  that  it  was.  Of  course  the 
workingmen  sat  on  the  benches  at  the  right  of  the  Speaker,  and 
that  made  it  all  the  worse. 

Mr.  Fawcett  made  a  number  of  propositions  in  connection  with 
the  Post  Office  Department,  over  which  he  presided.  With  that 
same  resolute  determination  which  put  aside  his  blindness  as  no 
insuperable  bar  to  political  prominence,  he  had  mastered  the  details 
of  his  work,  and  had  seen  clearly  what  changes  were  needed. 
Perhaps  the  best  tribute  to  the  wisdom  of  the  measures  which  he 
proposed  is  to  be  found  in  their  speedy  passage.  They  were  recog- 
nized as  things  which  the  public  demanded,  and  as  valuable  aids  to 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  371 

increasing  the  prosperity  of  the  people.  The  Post  Office  Savings 
Banks  which  Mr.  Gladstone  had  advocated  so  strongly  in  1861  had 
proved  a  great  success ;  and  Mr.  Fawcett  secured  the  extension  of 
their  influence.  He  also  passed  a  bill  providing  for  the  issuing  of 
Postal  Notes,  similar  to  those  which  were  subsequently  introduced 
into  use  in  this  country. 

The  proposal  to  erect  a  tablet  in  Westminster  Abbey  to  the 
memory  of  the  young  Prince  Imperial,  who  had  been  killed  a 
year  before  in  the  Zulu  war,  excited  intense  opposition  among 
those  members  who  had  been  so  bitterly  opposed  to  Napoleon 
III.,  and  the  motion  was  not  carried.  A  debate  which  was  not 
of  much  interest  otherwise,  and  of  no  more  importance  than 
this  measure,  was  the  nomination  of  M.  Challemel  Lacour  as 
French  embassador  to  England.  Mr.  O'Donnell  having  attacked 
the  proposed  representative  of  France  for  his  actions  during  the 
Commune,  Mr.  Gladstone  moved  that  Mr.  O'Donnell  be  no  longer 
heard.  This  was  a  revival  of  a  custom  which  had  not  been  in 
use  for  more  than  two  centuries,  and  was  adversely  commented 
on  at  the  time,  as  tending  to  recall  the  days  of  the  first  Stuarts. 

In  the  latter  part  of  July  Mr.  Gladstone  fell  ill.  His  disease 
proved  to  be  but  a  slight  fever;  but  for  a  few  days  there  waa 
intense  anxiety  regarding  him.  Visitors  thronged  the  door  of 
the  house  in  Downing  Street,  among  whom  Lord  Beaconsfield 
was  a  conspicuous  figure.  His  medical  advisers  forbidding  him  to 
return  to  political  life  for  a  time,  upon  his  partial  recovery  he 
accepted  the  use  of  Sir  Donald  Currie's  vessel,  "Granttilly  Cas- 
tle," and  did  not  return  to  Parliament  until  Sept.  4th.  His  place 
in  the  House  of  Commons  as  leader  of  the  Government,  was  of 
course  filled  by  Lord  Hartington,  who  plodded  along  with  that 
sturdy  determination  which  has  always  been  characteristic  of 
his  political  life. 

The  Indian  Budget  was  brought  before  the  House  during  Mr. 
Gladstone's  absence.  There  was,  as  had  been  supposed,  an  enor- 
mous deficit.  Lord  Hartington  declined  to  make  any  definite 
statement  as  to  how  this  was  to  be  met  until  the  exact  amount 
was  known  ;  but  it  was  proposed  to  supply  the  deficiency  tem- 
porarily by  means  of  loans. 

In  connection  with  the  session  of  1880,  there  remains  one  sub- 


372 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 


ject  to  be  noticed ;  a  subject  which  was  brought  up  first  in  the 
Queen's  speech,  and  which  at  the  close  of  the  session  was  left  in 


Lord  Hartinglon. 

pretty  ranch  the  same  state  as  it  was  at  the  beginning.  This  was 
nothing  else  than  the  Irish  Question.  If  the  spirit  of  all  the  men 
who  ever  sat  in  the  House  of  Commons  could  be  assembled  in 


The  Second  G-ladstone  Ministry.  373 

ghostly  conclave,  they  would,  from  sheer  force  of  habit,  fall  to 
discussing  the  Irish  question;  it  is  the  only  topic  which  could 
interest  all,  from  the  days  of  King  John  to  the  days  of  Queen 
Victoria;  other  wrongs  have  been  redressed,  other  rights  have 
been  asserted  and  maintained ;  the  rights  and  wrongs  of  Ireland, 
and  Ireland  alone,  are  the  unfailing  source  of  the  waters  of  strife. 

The  first  Gladstone  Ministry  had  passed  two  measures  which 
were  intended  to  give  the  long-delayed  justice  to  the  unfortunate 
sister- island,  and  had  fallen  on  the  attempt  to  pass  a  third.  But 
the  Land  Law  then  passed  was  far  from  being  satisfactory.  What 
were  known  as  the  Bright  clauses,  intended  to  make  the  pur- 
chase of  land  by  the  tenant  possible,  were  found  especially  im- 
practicable. By  the  law  disestablishing  the  Irish  Church  it  was 
arranged  that  the  church  tenants  who  wished  to  buy  their  hold- 
ings outright  should  be  allowed  to  do  so,  certain  very  easy  terms 
being  arranged. 

Mr.  Bright  endeavored  to  incorporate  something  of  the  same 
kind  in  the  general  Land  Law ;  but  the  land  was  so  encumbered 
with  tithe-charges,  and  quit-rents,  and  drainage  charges,  that  there 
was  a  constant  wrangle  between  the  original  holders  and  the  pur- 
chasers. Besides  this,  the  necessity  for  a  strict  investigation  of  the 
title,  and  other  expenses  of  the  transfer,  sometimes  amounted  to  as 
much  as  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  whole  value ;  for  the  law  required 
the  title  to  be  a  Landed  Estates  Court  document,  which  is  abso- 
lutely binding,  no  matter  what  claims  may  be  made  after  the  con- 
veyance. The  Government  had  aimed  to  establish  a  class  of  peasant 
proprietors ;  but  the  scheme  was  an  impracticable  one. 

There  was  really  but  one  thing  accomplished  by  this  act,  and 
that  was  the  establishment  of  the  Ulster  system  of  tenant-right, 
as  far  as  a  custom  varying  on  each  estate  could  be  reduced  to  a 
general  system.  That  was  but  one  of  the  things  at  which  the  Gov- 
ernment aimed.  Something  at  which  they  did  not  aim,  but  which 
the  law  did,  nevertheless,  was  the  fresh  impetus  which  was  thus 
given  to  the  Land  Question.  The  Irish  began  to  feel  that  this 
was  not  all  that  would  be  done ;  that  there  really  was  some  hope 
of  a  better  time  coming. 

The  Queen's  speech  at  the  opening  of  the  session  made  one 
most  important  announcement  with  regard  to  Irish  affairs.  The 


374  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

Peace  Preservation  Act  would  not  be  renewed.  This  meant  that 
the  ordinary  law  would  be  allowed  to  take  its  course,  and  the 
Government  would  try  to  rule  Ireland  without  resorting  to  coer- 
cion. Another  important  point  was  the  promise  that  the  borough 
franchise  of  Ireland  should  be  extended.  Notable  as  these  prom- 
ises were,  the  Irish  leaders  were  scarcely  satisfied,  however ;  there 
should  be  something  done  to  stay  evictions,  they  thought,  since 
these  had  increased  in  an  alarming  ratio  of  late  years. 

The  Irish  members  made  a  gallant  attempt  to  perform  the 
duty  for  which  they  had  been  elected,  in  preparing  a  bill  for  the 
purpose  of  staying  evictions.  This  the  government  refused  to 
accept ;  but  proposed  in  place  of  it  a  Compensation  for  Disturb- 
ance bill,  which  adopted  some  of  their  suggestions.  In  cases 
where  a  non-payment  of  rent  was  due  to  insolvency  caused  by  a 
failure  of  crops,  the  county  court  judges  were  authorized  to  allow 
compensation.  Mr.  Forster  explained  to  the  House  that  this 
was  simply  an  extension  of  the  act  of  1870,  and  denied  that  it 
was  a  concession  to  the  anti-rent  agitation.  At  the  same  time  he 
admitted  that  since  1877  the  annual  rate  at  which  evictions  had 
increased  was  nearly  double  that  of  previous  years. 

The  bill  passed  the  House  of  Commons  after  a  protracted  de- 
bate, and  went  up  to  the  Lords.  But  the  Peers  did  not  see  as  the 
Commons  did,  and  rejected  it  by  an  immense  majority.  The  vio- 
lence with  which  many  evictions  had  been  resisted,  and  the  out- 
rages which  had  been  perpetuated  in  revenge  for  the  wrongs  in- 
flicted, in  the  eyes  of  the  peasants,  by  the  landlord  class,  were  an 
insuperable  bar  to  any  favorable  consideration  of  the  claims  of 
the  Irish.  Perhaps,  had  this  measure  passed  the  Lords,  there 
would  have  been  less  agitation  in  Ireland  since  that  time ;  but 
after  the  lapse  of  a  decade  the  same  state  of  affairs  obtained. 

The  Irish  members  pleaded  vainly  with  the  Government  for 
some  resistance  of  this  fiat  of  the  Peers.  The  most  that  the  Min- 
istry would  do  was  to  promise  a  comprehensive  measure  next 
session  with  a  committee,  for  the  present,  to  inquire  into  the  agri- 
cultural condition  of  the  country.  Perhaps  the  Ministers,  in  the 
absence  of  their  chief,  hesitated  to  take  any  decided  action ;  and 
certainly  such  action,  taken  by  Hartington,  would  have  had  much 
less  weight  than  if  Gladstone  had  insisted  upon  it, 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 


375 


The  Home  Rulers  were  of  course  bitterly  opposed  to  this 
quiescence,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  say  so,  in  many  speeches  which 
the  Government  considered  inflammatory;  and  this  judgment  was 
perhaps  not  without  foundation.  The  Ministry  had  made  the 
mistake  of  not  consulting  a  single  Irish  member  in  connection  with 


Hon.  Edward  Forster. 

its  Irish  policy ;  incredible  as  it  may  seem,  not  even  those  moder- 
ate members,  who,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Shaw,  sat  and 
voted  with  the  Liberals,  were  treated  as  political  friends  and  allies 
in  this  respect. 

the  speeches  outside  of  Parliament  which  thus  aroused 


376  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

the  ire  of  the  Government  was  one  delivered  by  Mr.  Dillon,  in 
which  he  called  upon  the  young  farmers  of  Ireland  to  defend  those 
who  were  threatened  with  eviction.  The  attention  of  the  Irish 
Secretary  having  been  called  to  this  speech,  he  denounced  it  as 
wicked  and  cowardly.  Mr.  Dillon  replied ;  Mr.  Forster  retorted. 
Then  came  one  debate  after  another,  upon  Irish  topics;  during  one 
of  these  discussions,  the  Secretary  took  occasion  to  defend  the  Irish 
constabulary  for  the  use  of  buck-shot  as  ammunition,  and  thus  built 
himself  an  everlasting  name,  as  "  Buckshot  Forster." 

Parliament  was  prorogued  September  7th,  nothing  of  import- 
ance having  been  done  toward  the  settlement  of  this  vexed  ques- 
tion. But  the  Land  Leaguers  were  not  silenced.  The  tenants  were 
advised  to  form  a  sort  of  protective  union,  for  the  purpose  of  oppos- 
ing a  passive  resistance  to  evictions,  and  also  to  the  exaction  of  an 
unjust  amount  of  rent  over  the  valuation  authorized  by  the  Par- 
liament of  1824,  and  finally  made  in  1852. 

The  leaders  of  the  Land  League  were  anxious  to  avoid  all  vio- 
lation of  the  law;  and  hence  a  strictly  legal  mode  of  freezing 
out  the  obnoxious  landlords  and  agents  was  resorted  to.  This 
was  called,  from  the  name  of  the  first  victim,  "  Boycotting  ;  "  and 
was  an  ingenious  means  of  evading  the  letter  of  the  law,  worthy 
of  an  Irishman's  quick  wit. 

Still  there  were  outrages,  though  the  Land  League  claimed  that 
it  did  all  in  its  power  to  prevent  them.  "  While  we  abuse  coer- 
cion, we  must  not  be  guilty  of  coercion,"  was  the  principle  which 
Davitt  and  his  associates  constantly  enunciated;  but  there  was 
much  for  which  the  Government  held  them  responsible ;  and  the 
trouble  culminated  in  a  State  prosecution  of  fifteen  prominent 
members  of  the  society,  among  whom  Messrs.  Parnell,  Dillon, 
Sexton,  Sullivan  and  Biggar,  all  members  of  Parliament,  were 
of  course  included.  The  charge  was  seditious  conspiracy,  but  the 
jury  was  unable  to  agree,  and  the  trial  came  to  nothing. 

At  the  end  of  the  session  of  1880,  Mr.  Forster  had  said  that  the 
Government  would  introduce  an  Irish  Land  Bill  and  a  Coercion 
Bill  the  next  session.  He  intimated  that  coercion  would  precede 
legislation  on  the  land  question.  The  Irish  members  were  hardly 
surprised  then,  when  at  the  opening  of  the  session  of  1881,  the 
Queen's  speech  declared  that  the  multiplication  of  agrarian  crimes, 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  377 

and  the  insecurity  of  life  and  property  in  Ireland  demanded  coer- 
cive measures.  Oil  the  other  hand  it  was  admitted  that  the  con- 
dition of  Ireland  caJ'ed  for  an  extension  of  the  Land  Act  of  1870. 

Monday,  January  24th,  Mr.  Forster  introduced  his  first  coer- 
cion measure.  Liberals  and  Conservatives  alike  looked  at  his 
statistics  of  outrages  perpetrated  in  Ireland  with  horror,  until  Mr. 
Labouchere  showed  that  in  most  cases  one  outrage  was  made  to 
stand  for  several,  by  multiplying  it  by  the  number  of  men  con- 
cerned with  it.  This  somewhat  weakened  the  force  of  the  argu- 
ment based  on  the  statistics,  but  Mr.  Forster  did  not  look  upon  it 
in  that  light.  The  bill  gave  the  Lord  Lieutenant  the  power  of 
arresting  any  one  who  was  suspected  of  treasonable  practices,  and 
the  commission  of  crimes  of  intimidation,  or  incitement  thereto. 
It  was  an  ex-post  facto  law,  as  it  did  not  limit  the  arrest  to  those 
who  had  offended  after  the  passage  of  the  bill. 

On  the  day  after  the  introduction  of  this  bill,  Mr.  Gladstone 
moved  to  declare  urgency  for  the  coercion  bills,  and  thus  give 
them  precedence  over  all  other  business.  Then  ensued  a  series 
of  sittings  without  precedent  in  the  history  of  Parliament.  The 
first  sitting  of  the  House  at  which  this  was  the  business  of  the 
hour  was  prolonged,  not  only  all  night,  but  until  two  o'clock  the 
next  afternoon.  The  debate  was  resumed  on  Thursday,  with  a 
speech  from  Mr.  Bright.  The  Radical  of  the  old  school  had  long 
been  regarded  as  a  friend  to  Home  Rule,  and  it  had  been  confi- 
dently asserted  that  the  silence  which  he  had  hitherto  preserved 
npon  this  all-absorbing  topic  was  due  to  his  disapproval  of  the 
course  which  his  colleagues  were  pursuing.  But  if  this  opinion 
really  obtained,  it  was  most  effectually  dissipated  by  this  speech. 
The  Land  League  had  been  compared  to  the  anti-Corn  Law 
League,  and  the  impression  that  Mr.  Bright  was  a  devoted  friend 
of  the  Irish  was  perhaps  due  in  no  small  degree  to  this  compari- 
son. But  now  he  angrily  denied  the  parallel,  and  with  more  than 
his  usual  vehemence  literally  flung  himself  upon  the  Irish  party. 
The  Irish  national  press  was  exasperated  to  find  Mr.  Bright  thus 
decisively  arrayed  upon  the  side  of  their  enemies ;  he  was  the  last 
link  that  had  bound  the  extreme  Irish  party  to  the  Government ; 
and  now  that  had  been  snapped. 

But  Mr.  Bright's  speech,  eloquent  as  it  was  in  its  fierce  denun- 


S78  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

ciations  of  the  Land  Leaguers,  was  completely  overshadowed  by 
one  from  Mr.  Gladstone  the  next  day,  upon  the  same  subject. 
His  speech  was  a  justification  of  coercion  in  the  disorganized  con- 
dition of  Ireland,  and  a  bitter  denunciation  of  many  of  the  speeches 
which  had  been  made  by  Mr.  Paruell  and  Mr.  Biggar.  The  fierce- 
ness of  his  attack  had  had  no  precedent  since  the  time  when  he 
had  defended  the  monarchy  against  the  republicanism  of  Sir 
Charles  Dilke. 

"  Passion  is  the  spell  which  most  surely  unlocks  Mr.  Gladstone's 
skill  as  an  orator  of  attack.  The  fury  of  his  indignation  swept 
over  the  House  and  stirred  it  to  its  depths,  arousing  tumultuous 
enthusiasm  in  the  majority  of  his  hearers,  and  angry  protest  from 
the  minority  he  was  assailing.  The  pale,  unmoved  face  of  Mr. 
Parnell  occasionally  showed  through  the  storm  as  he  rose  to  cor- 
rect the  Prime  Minister  in  his  quotations  from  his  speeches,  and 
was  howled  and  shouted,  if  not  into  silence,  at  least  into  being 
inaudible." 

Such  is  the  description  of  an  eye-witness,  who  was  certainly  not 
unfavorable  to  Parnell.  But  the  House  was  not  to  be  swept  along 
on  this  tide  of  fiery  eloquence.  There  were  breakers  ahead,  in  the 
obstruction  policy  of  the  Irish  members  ;  the  members  of  the  Gov- 
ernment sat  in  their  places;  some  doggedly  defiant  of  these  efforts, 
some  appearing  to  be  extremely  depressed  because  the  measure  was 
not  carried  through  with  a  rush.  Entirely  different  was  the  atti- 
tude of  the  Opposition  during  this  prolonged  sitting;  what  was 
death  to  the  frogs  in  the  fable  was  fun  for  the  boys ;  and  the 
members  of  that  party  whose  Irish  policy  had  been  so  severely 
condemned  by  the  party  in  power,  and  who  were  promised  tha< 
they  should  see  how  speedily  the  Irish  difficulties  would  be  settled 
by  the  Liberals,  enjoyed  themselves  immensely  during  this  exciting 
debate. 

Finally  the  Speaker  proceeded  to  put  the  main  question.  An 
Irish  member  rose;  the  Speaker  refused  to  hear  him.  Then  there 
arose  a  cry  which  had  not  been  heard  in  the  House  of  Commons 
since  1642,  when  Charles  I.  suddenly  appeared  in  its  sacred  pre- 
cincts and  demanded  that  the  members  whom  he  accused  of  high 
treason  should  be  delivered  up  to  him.  "  Privilege,  Privilege  !" 
shouted  the  whole  Irish  party,  leaping  to  their  feet  33  one  man. 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  37J* 

Then,  bowing  to  the  Chair,  they  marched  out  of  the  House  in  the 
same  unbroken  phalanx. 

Thus  ended  a  scene  without  parallel  in  Parliamentary  history. 
The  long  sitting  was  the  first  actual  triumph  of  obstruction,  which 
had  often  delayed  business,  but  which  had  never  before  revolu- 
tionized parliamentary  law  and  precedent.  The  occasion  was  full 
of  weird  interest,  and  was  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  daring  audacity 
of  the  principal  actors  in  it. 

Again  and  again  did  the  Irish  patriots  move  that  the  House 
adjourn,  that  progress  be  reported,  that  the  Speaker  leave  the  chair, 
and  a  variety  of  similar  motions.  Again  and  again  did  the  sonorous 
voice  of  Mr.  Biggar  break  the  stillness  of  the  air  with  his  peculiarly 
pronounced  "  Misthur  Spaker,  Sur-r-r."  Under  cover  of  motions 
to  adjourn,  the  whole  question  was  re-opened,  until,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  second  day,  it  was  discovered  that  one  of  the  solid  gang 
had  not  addressed  himself  to  the  bill  itself.  Up  rose  this  zealous 
patriot,  and  when  it  was  found  he  insisted  on  reading  the  measure, 
clause  by  clause,  a  groan  escaped  from  a  score  of  lips. 

When  the  lights  were  put  out  at  daybreak  on  Tuesday,  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  House  was  miserable.  The  usual  sweeping  and 
cleaning  had  been  impossible,  and  the  floor  was  strewn  with 
rubbish  of  all  kinds,  torn  newspapers,  and  even  pieces  of  orange 
peel  abounding  in  every  direction.  Then  the  Liberals  commenced 
going  home  to  sleep  in  sections,  and  every  few  hours  a  score  or 
two  members  would  appear  clothed  and  in  their  right  minds,  to 
replace  an  equal  number  of  dirty  and  sleepy  legislators,  who  ir 
turn  went  home  to  recuperate. 

For  the  nonce  all  party  feeling  was  forgotten,  and  the  Opposi- 
tion loyally  supported  the  Government  in  its  attempt  to  silence 
Irish  protests  and  Irish  demands  for  justice.  Sir  Stafford  North- 
cote  personally  appealed  to  Mr.  Gladstone  to  go  home  and  sleep, 
pledging  himself  to  remain  in  his  absence  and  "  keep  a  House." 

Of  ludicrous  incidents  there  were  several.  It  is  "  strictly  out  of 
order  "  for  members  or  strangers  to  bring  refreshments  on  to  the 
floor  of  the  House.  This  rule  did  not  hurt  the  English  and  Scotch 
members,  who  could  easily  get  away  to  eat;  but  it  was  not  so  with 
the  Irish,  who  ate  sandwiches  and  drank  out  of  flasks  to  their 
heart's  content.  Among  the  lunch  eaters  was  an  Irish  obstruo 


380  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

tionist  whose  reputation  as  a  drinker  of  whiskey  exceeded  his  elo- 
quence. Mr.  Wharton  called  the  Speaker's  attention  to  the  fact 
that  this  gentleman  was  eating  and  drinking,  whereupon  the  wine- 
bibber  proceeded  to  stand  up  and  empty  his  flask  in  face  of  the 
Speaker's  studied  rebuke. 

The  bill  was  immediately  brought  in,  and  the  first  reading  car- 
ried. The  House  adjourned  till  noon  of  the  same  day,  this  single 
sitting  having  lasted  about  forty-one  hours,  and  being  the  longest 
then  on  record.  The  Irish  members  thought  better  of  it  when  the 
time  came  for  re-assembling,  and  were  promptly  on  hand  to  criti- 
cise the  action  of  the  Speaker  in  thus  bringing  the  debate  to  a  close 
upon  his  own  motion. 

The  Speaker  ruled  that  it  was  not  a  question  of  privilege  ; 
whereupon  an  Irish  member  moved  the  adjournment  of  the  House, 
and  the  debate  on  that  question  was  kept  up  until  nearly  six 
o'clock,  when,  upon  division,  it  was  found  that  but  forty-four 
members  out  of  more  than  three  hundred  were  in  favor  of  it.  As 
it  was  six  o'clock  by  the  time  that  the  result  of  the  division  was 
announced,  and  the  day  was  Wednesday,  the  House  was  obliged, 
by  its  own  rules,  to  adjourn. 

The  Irish  were  resisting  with  all  their  might.  They  could  only 
hope  to  weary  out  the  Government,  and  thus  obtain  some  conces- 
sions. If  the  ministry  would  not  pass  a  law  for  the  relief  of  Ire- 
land, they  should  not  pass  one  for  her  oppression.  So  they  rea- 
soned ;  and  the  members  who  sat  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Speaker 
were  doubtful  as  to  the  result,  until  their  chief  found  a  way  out  of 
the  difficulty.  The  obstruction  policy  of  the  very  small  Irish  party 
must  be  the  excuse  for  the  revival  of  rules  which  had  been  allowed 
to  sink  into  oblivion.  The  Irish  had  brought  the  cry  of  "  Privi- 
lege" from  the  echoing  chambers  of  the  past;  and  they  were 
silenced  with  thunders  from  the  same  stormy  region. 

When  question  time  came  on  Thursday,  Mr.  Parnell  suddenly 
asked  if  it  were  true  that  Mr.  Davitt  had  been  arrested.  The 
Home  Secretary  answered  that  he  had ;  whereupon  the  wildest 
cheering  ensued ;  when  the  noise  subsided,  Sir  William  Harcourt 
went  on  to  state  that  the  Irish  Secretary  and  he,  after  due  consulta- 
tion with  their  colleagues  and  the  legal  advisers  of  the  Govern- 
ment, had  decided  that  Mr,  Davitt  had  violated  the  conditions  of 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  381 

his  ticket -of-leave.  Mr.  Parnell  tried  to  ascertain  what  conditions 
had  been  broken,  but  the  Speaker  decided  that  Mr.  Gladstone,  who 
was  waiting  with  his  Urgency  Motion,  had  the  floor.  Mr.  Dillon 
arose  to  a  point  of  order,  but  was  not  allowed  to  state  it. 

Amid  much  noise  from  all  parts  of  the  House,  the  Speaker 
declared  that  Mr.  Gladstone  was  entitled  to  be  heard.  Mr.  Dillon 
did  not  sit  down  when  the  Speaker  rose,  but  remained  defiantly 
standing  facing  him  ;  he  demanded  his  privilege  of  speech.  In 
the  noise  which  ensued  there  were  few  or  no  members  silent.  The 
Irish  members  shouted  vociferously,  *' Point  of  Order!"  The 
other  members,  with  more  volume  of  voice,  but  with  no  more 
vehemence,  demanded  that  Mr.  Dillon  should  be  named  by  the 
Speaker.  This  last  demand  was  the  one  with  which  the  Speaker 
complied,  the  offense  which  was  thus  punished  being  Mr.  Dillon's 
defiance  of  the  rules  by  remaining  on  his  feet  after  the  Speaker  had 
risen.  In  view  of  the  somewhat  frequent  use  of  this  means  of  dis- 
cipline of  late  years,  we  may  here  remark  that  the  last  member 
"  named,"  prior  to  Mr.  Dillon  on  this  occasion,  was  Fergus  O'Con- 
nor, who,  in  the  heat  of  debate,  had  struck  the  member  sitting 
beside  him  in  1848. 

Mr.  Dillon  was  silenced  for  the  time ;  and  the  Prime  Minister 
at  once  moved  that  he  be  suspended  from  the  service  of  the  House 
for  the  remainder  of  the  sitting.  This  was  carried  by  an  immense 
majority,  and  the  speaker  called  upon  Mr.  Dillon  to  withdraw. 
He  began  to  speak,  but  there  was  such  confusion  that  nothing 
could  be  distinguished ;  finally,  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  approached 
him,  accompanied  by  several  attendants,  and  Mr.  Dillon  left  the 
House. 

After  the  excitement  had  somewhat  lessened,  Mr.  Gladstone 
made  another  effort  to  go  on  with  his  speech,  but  was  interrupted 
by  several  Irish  members,  chief  among  whom  was  Mr.  Parnell, 
who  moved  that  Mr.  Gladstone  be  no  longer  heard.  The  Speaker 
declined  to  recognize  the  member  for  Cork ;  the  member  from 
Cork  declined  in  effect  to  recognize  the  Speaker,  since  he  refused 
to  sit  down.  This  was  the  very  offense  for  which  Mr.  Dillon  had 
just  been  expelled,  and  a  similar  fate  awaited  Mr.  Parnell.  Thirty- 
three  members  had  voted  against  the  expulsion  of  Mr.  Dillon ; 
there  were  but  seven  in  the  minority  when  Mr.  Gladstone  proposed 


382  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

a  similar  course  with  regard  to  Mr.  Parnell.  The  Irish  members 
remained  in  their  seats,  refusing  to  vote  when  the  division  was 
called  for. 

It  was  not  without  reason  that  they  complained  of  the  treatment 
which  they  had  received.  This  was  indeed  an  antiquated  mode  of 
procedure,  to  demand  that  a  Speaker  be  no  longer  heard ;  but  Mr. 
Parnell  would  hardly  have  made  use  of  it  had  not  the  Prime 
Minister  himself  done  so  in  the  first  place.  It  was  simply  a  turn- 
ing of  his  own  weapon  against  him,  though  the  majority  decided 
that  the  Premier  might  use  arms  which  were  not  permitted  to 
others. 

Mr.  Gladstone,  who  was  literally  speaking  under  difficulties,  was 
again  interrupted  by  an  Irish  member,  Mr.  Finigan,  and  there  was 
a  repetition  of  the  little  comedy  which  had  been  twice  before  per- 
formed before  the  House.  There  were  twenty-eight  members  of 
the  Irish  party  remaining,  and  the  Speaker  having  called  the 
attention  of  the  House  to  their  refusal  to  vote,  named  them  one 
after  another.  Mr.  Gladstone  moved  their  expulsion  in  a  body ; 
it  was  carried  with  but  six  dissenting  voices. 

Then  ensued  a  scene  which  was  ludicrous  in  its  monotony.  Each 
member  as  he  was  named,  rose  and  made  a  speech  protesting  against 
the  action  of  the  Government,  and  declining  to  obey  the  order  to 
leave  unless  compelled  to  do  so ;  the  sergeant  at  arms  would 
'jolemnly  approach  him  with  his  attendants  at  his  heels;  touch 
him  on  the  shoulder  without  saying  a  word.  In  most  cases  the 
member  obeyed  this  mute  summons;  but  in  some  cases  they  refused 
to  do  so  until  a  sufficient  number  of  attendants  had  been  brought 
to  show  that  resistance  was  absolutely  hopeless. 

Mr.  Gladstone  again  rose  and  tried  to  go  on  with  his  motion, 
but  it  was  not  to  be  as  yet.  Some  of  the  Irish  party  who  had  not 
been  in  the  House  while  this  was  taking  place  now  returned,  and 
tried  the  same  tactics.  It  was  necessary  to  suspend  six  of  these 
before  he  was  at  last  permitted  to  proceed. 

Steps  were  at  once  taken  to  amend  the  rules  of  the  House  in 
such  manner  that  the  obstruction  policy  could  not  be  used  to  such 
an  advantage.  A  fall  upon  the  ice  having  confined  Mr.  Gladstone 
to  his  house  for  a  few  days,  the  final  passage  of  the  bill  took  place 
in  his  absence.  February  27th,  Lord  Hartington  moved  that  the 


Inquiring  Concerning  Mr.  Gladstone's  Injuries.  383 


384  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

debate  on  the  bill,  which  was  at  that  time  in  committee,  and  about 
to  be  reported,  should  end  at  seven  the  next  day.  Any  amend- 
ments which  were  unreported  upon  at  that  time  were  to  be  denied 
consideration.  This  motion,  which  did  not  admit  of  being  dis- 
cussed, was  carried,  and  the  Speaker  promptly  cut  the  debate  short 
at  the  hour  named.  The  Coercion  Bill  was  carried  with  but  thirty- 
six  negatives  in  the  Commons,  and  passing  rapidly  through  all  its 
stages  in  the  House  of  Lords,  became  a  law  March  2d. 

The  long  promised  Land  Bill  was  introduced  April  7th.  It  was 
supposed  to  be  based  upon  the  reports  of  two  Commissions  which 
had  been  appointed,  one  by  the  late  and  one  by  the  existing  Gov- 
ernment, for  the  purpose  of  investigating  the  land  question  in  Ire- 
land. The  number  of  reports  presented  by  these  two  Commissions 
seems  to  have  been  limited  only  by  the  number  of  gentlemen  who 
had  been  appointed  to  investigate  the  subject ;  but  with  one  excep- 
tion they  agreed  that  there  ought  to  be  a  court  which  should  decide 
between  landlord  and  tenant  when  they  differed  with  regard  to  rent. 

Fair  rent,  Fixity  of  Tenure,  and  Free  Sale — the  three  F's,  as 
they  were  called — were  the  main  objects  of  the  Bill ;  and  the 
vexed  question  of  peasant  proprietary  was  not  omitted.  It  was 
a  moderate  measure;  and  if  it  should  prove  practicable,  the  Gov- 
ernment hoped  that  the  condition  of  the  Irish  would  be  greatly 
ameliorated  by  its  action. 

It  was  bitterly  opposed  by  the  Conservatives,  who  characterized 
it  as  communistic,  revolutionary,  socialistic,  and  by  any  other 
epithets  that  appeared  sufficiently  condemnatory.  The  Irish  mem- 
bers, perhaps,  were  astonished  at  the  introduction  of  such  a  measure 
by  the  Government ;  but  although  it  was  more  than  they  had 
hoped  for,  it  was  less  than  they  wished.  They  set  themselves  to 
work  to  widen  its  scope,  and  in  this  they  were  fairly  successful. 
It  was  not  finally  presented  to  the  House  until  the  end  of  July, 
when  it  passed  the  third  reading. 

The  Bill  was  then  sent  up  to  the  Lords.  If  the  Irish  members 
had  done  their  best  to  obstruct  the  Coercion  Bill,  the  Lords  were 
equally  unreasonable  with  regard  to  the  Land  Bill.  It  was 
amended  so  that  it  was  hardly  recognizable,  and  the  Peers,  flat- 
tering themselves  that  they  had  done  great  things,  passed  it  in  its 
altered  form,  and  it  went  again  to  the  Commons. 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  385 

The  Commons  declined  to  accept  the  changes,  and  sent  it  back 
to  the  Lords.  The  Lords  made  new  amendments,  and  sent  it  down 
to  the  Commons  again.  The  ministry  made  some  minor  conces- 
sions, but  declined  once  more  to  accept  those  sweeping  changes  on 
which  the  Peers  had  insisted.  At  last  the  Lords,  after  all  their 
bluster,  yielded  some  points,  and  the  Land  Bill  of  1881  became  law. 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  Bradlaugh's  seat  had  been  formally  de- 
clared vacant,  and  a  writ  for  a  new  election  issued.  He  was  again 
elected,  and  the  old  trouble  began  afresh.  The  Government  held 
to  the  opinion  that  the  House  could  not  interfere  when  a  duly 
elected  member  presented  himself  to  take  the  oath,  as  Mr.  Brad- 
laugh  now  did ;  and  the  Opposition  having  carried  a  resolution 
affirming  that  Mr.  Bradlatigh  should  not  be  permitted  to  repeat 
the  oath,  which  he  regarded  as  a  mere,  meaningless,  empty  cere- 
mony, Mr.  Gladstone  informed  them,  in  answer  to  their  inquiries, 
that  it  was  their  business  to  carry  out  that  resolution,  against  which 
he  had  voted. 

The  government  promised  to  deal  with  the  question  in  the  usual 
way,  and  the  Parliamentary  Oaths  Bill  was  brought  in ;  but  it 
was  finally  decided  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  proceed  with  it, 
and  the  matter  was  allowed  to  lie  over  until  the  next  session.  The 
disturbance  excited  by  Mr.  Bradlaugh's  persistency  in  urging  his 
claims  to  a  seat  therefore  continued  until  nearly  the  time  for  pro- 
rogation. 

Cobden,  speaking  to  a  friend  of  Disraeli  and  his  brilliant  career, 
had  asked,  " How  will  it  be  with  him  when  all  is  retrospect?" 
That  solemn  question,  like  an  echo  of  the  archangel's  blast,  now 
was  brought  to  the  minds  of  men.  On  the  19th  of  April,  1881, 
all  became  restrospect  with  the  great  Tory  statesman.  The  long, 
long  rivalry  was  ended,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  was  left  without  a  peer 
in  the  ranks  of  living  Englishmen. 

After  the  passage  of  a  number  of  measures  of  special  im- 
portance only  in  a  local  or  temporary  sense,  the  stormy  session 
came  to  a  close.  Up  to  its  end  the  Government  had  not  shown 
any  special  animosity  to  the  Irish  members,  and  seemed  disposed 
to  treat  the  Land  Leaguers  in  general  with  more  lenity  than  ever. 
This  was  evidenced  by  the  release  of  Father  Sheehy,  who  had  been 
imprisoned  as  an  agitator.  But  the  advocates  of  Irish  freedom 
25 


386  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

from  British  rule  continued  their  self-appointed  task,  and  the 
patience  of  the  Ministry  was  finally  worn  out.  Mr.  Gladstone 
spoke  at  Leeds  on  the  7th  of  October,  in  reply  to  an  address  from 
the  Mayor  and  Town  Council.  His  speech  touched  upon  the  all- 
absorbing  Irish  Question;  and  as  he  warmed  to  the  work,  he 
spoke  of  Mr.  Parnell  in  such  terms  that  he  was  accused  of  a  bitter, 
personal  attack.  The  extreme  views  of  the  Parnellites  were  com- 
pared unfavorably  with  those  of  the  men  of  the  1848  school,  and 
even  with  those  of  the  moderate  men  of  to-day,  like  Mr.  Dillon. 
Mr.  Parnell  promptly  replied  to  these  strictures,  and  Mr.  Dillon 
refused  to  accept  Mr.  Gladstone's  compliment.  One  speech  fol- 
lowed another  from  the  lips  of  the  incensed  Irishmen,  and  the 
Government  fiaally  issued  warrants  for  the  arrest  of  the  prominent 
Land  Leaguers. 

This  was  announced  by  the  Prime  Minister  in  a  most  dramati- 
cally effective  manner.  In  the  midst  of  an  address  to  a  crowded 
assembly  at  Guildhall,  he  made  an  eloquent  plea  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  law  and  order.  Suddenly  he  produced  a  telegram,  an- 
nouncing that  the  Land  League  leaders  had  been  arrested  and 
conveyed  to  jail.  The  effect  was  marvellous.  Friends  and  foes 
strove  to  outdo  each  other  in  their  wild  applause. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE  SECOND  GLADSTONE  MINISTRY. 
(CONTINUED.) 

Mr.  Bradlaugh  Once  More — Home  Rule — The  Lords  and  the  Land  Act — Amend- 
ment of  the  Rules — Arrears  Bill — Concessions  to  the  Irish — Phosnix  Park 
Murders  —  Crimes  Bill  —  Obstruction  —  Friends  Failing  —  The  Egyptian 
Question — Bombardment  of  Alexandria — Autumn  Session — Forster's  At- 
tack on  Gladstone — The  Reply — Explosives  Bill — And  Still,  Mr.  Brad- 
laugh — Minor  Legislation — The  Soudan  Difficulties — Irrepressible  Mr. 
Bradlaugh — The  Egyptian  Trouble  Continues  -The  Afghan  Boundary — 
Failure  of  the  Soudan  War— The  Budget  -A  teleepy  Time— Waking  Up — 
A  Remarkable  Speech — A  Great  Surprise — Fall  of  the  Ministry. 

PARLIAMENT  opened  February  7,  1882.  The  chief  topic 
of  discussion,  always  excepting  the  omnipresent  Irish  Ques- 
tion, was  the  amendment  of  the  rules.  This  had  been  in- 
trusted to  a  committee  the  year  before,  and  was  expected  to  come 
up  before  the  House  very  early  in  the  session.  The  subject  was  of 
special  interest,  because,  upon  the  passage  of  a  rule  which  would 
render  obstruction  more  difficult,  the  Irish  Question  could  be  more 
speedily  discussed,  if  not  more  easily  settled;  and  the  reforms  in 
this  direction  had  gone  just  far  enough  to  make  the  oppressed  more 
eagerly  desirous  of  aid. 

But  the  first  question  which  came  before  the  House  was  the 
Bradlaugh  difficulty.  Mr.  Bradlaugh  had  been  excluded  from  the 
House  the  year  before  by  a  sessional  order,  which,  of  course,  re- 
mained in  force  only  until  the  prorogation.  On  the  demand  of  his 
rights,  Mr.  Gladstone  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  courts  of  law 
were  the  only  authority  competent  to  deal  with  the  question  ;  but 
the  matter  was  otherwise  decided  by  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
Mr.  Bradlaugh  was  once  more  directed  to  withdraw.  Mr.  Labou- 
chere  having  moved  for  a  new  writ  for  Northampton,  the  motion 
was  negatived  by  a  large  majority. 

Thereupon  Mr.  Bradlaugh,  advancing  from  the  seat  which  he 
had  been  occupying,  and  which  was  not  in  the  technical  limits  of 
the  House,  drew  a  New  Testament  from  his  coat-pocket  and  gravely 

387 


388  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

proceeded  to  swear  himself  in  as  a  Member  of  Parliament.  This 
done,  he  produced  a  paper  stating  that  he  had  duly  taken  the  oath, 
signed  it  and  laid  it  upon  the  table.  The  House  was  literally 
struck  dumb  by  this  performance,  and  only  began  to  recover  itself 
as  Mr.  Bradlaugh  concluded  the  extraordinary  ceremony. 

Then  there  was  "  confusion  worse  confounded."  Lord  Randolph 
Churchill  led  the  argument,  and  when  that  has  been  said  the 
aggressive  nature  of  it  may  be  inferred.  But  the  law-officers  of 
the  Crown  could  not  decide  that  Mr.  Bradlaugh  had  reUly  violated 
any  statute,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  succeeded  in  postponing  the  con- 
sideration of  the  question  until  the  next  day. 

The  wrangle  thus  delayed  ended  in  the  expulsion  of  Mr.  Brad- 
laugh,  the  issuing  of  a  new  writ,  and  the  re-election  of  Mr.  Brad- 
laugh.  This  had  come  to  be  quite  the  recognized  order  of  things ; 
but  there  was  a  slight  change  in  what  followed.  Mr.  Labouchere 
having  proposed  that  Mr.  Bradlaugh  should  be  heard  in  his  own 
behalf,  instead  of  addressing  the  Commons  from  below  the  bar,  as 
usual,  that  gentleman  boldly  advanced  to  the  sacred  precincts  of 
the  House  itself,  and,  taking  a  seat  below  the  gangway,  proceeded 
to  argue  the  point  with  the  Speaker  as  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  He  was  expelled  by  a  vote  of  297  to  80  ;  a  new  writ 
was  immediately  granted,  and  Mr.  Bradlaugh  was  again  re-elected. 

A  resolution  of  Sir  Stafford  Northcote,  carried  by  a  majority  of 
fifteen,  affirmed  the  sessional  resolution,  and  forbade  him  to  take 
the  oath.  The  strife  extended  to  the  House  of  Lords,  where  there 
was  a  bill  brought  in  to  exclude  all  atheists  from  Parliament,  suc- 
ceeded, when  it  was  lost,  by  an  Affirmation  Bill,  which  shared  the 
same  fate.  The  Government  arrived  at  an  understanding  with 
Mr.  Bradlaugh,  by  which  he  was  to  be  permitted  to  occupy  a  seat 
on  one  of  the  benches,  on  condition  that  he  did  not  join  in  the 
debates,  and  did  nothing  to  disturb  the  House. 

The  Irish  Question  had  been  broached  during  the  debate  upon 
the  Address,  but  had  not  been  discussed  in  any  other  form.  But 
this  debate  is  not  without  interest,  since  it  disproves  the  assertions 
which  have  sometimes  been  made,  that  the  alliance  of  Mr.  Glad- 
stone with  Mr.  Parnell  was  merely  a  device  to  regain  power  by  the 
aid  of  the  Irish  vote.  If,  in  the  height  of  his  career  as  Prime 
Minister  for  the  second  time,  he  began  to  advocate  Home  Rule,  it 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gladstone  in  1883 


390  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

is  clear  that  it  could  not  have  been  a  sudden  change,  made  for  any 
sinister  motive. 

It  was  quite  characteristic  of  the  man,  whose  whole  political  life 
was  signalized  by  gradual  growth  from  extreme  Toryism  tc  extreme 
Liberal  views.  Had  it  been  possible  for  Gladstone  to  have  lived 
ten  years  longer,  in  the  full  possession  of  his  mental  and  pnysical 
powers,  it  is  not  improbable  that  he  would  have  come  to  uphold 
those  very  principles  which  he  had  so  severely  condemned  when 
answering  Sir  Charles  Di Ike's  speech  on  Republicanism.  The 
change  would  have  been  no  greater  than  others  which  took  place 
in  his  life. 

Mr.  P.  J.  Smyth  had  moved  an  amendment  supporting  a  restora- 
tion of  the  Irish  Parliament,  but  this  had  been  lost  after  he  offered 
to  withdraw  it.  Mr.  Gladstone  had  spoken  upon  the  subject,  and, 
in  a  later  stage  of  the  controversy,  he  was  called  to  account  for  this 
speech.  The  Irish  members  themselves  demanded  the  explanation, 
some  passages  seeming  to  indicate  that  he  was  not  averse  to  Home 
Rule.  Mr.  Gladstone  replied  that  he  had  always  considered  that  a 
demand  for  the  local  government  of  Ireland  was  not  too  dangerous 
to  be  considered,  as  it  was  rated  by  the  Conservatives;  but  up  to 
this  time  no  case,  which  combined  a  proper  formulation  of  the 
Irish  claims  with  a  due  regard  for  the  supremacy  of  the  British 
Crown,  had  ever  been  submitted  to  the  Government. 

Such  cautious  admissions  meant  that  the  time  would  come  when 
Gladstone  would  advocate  Home  Rule.  The  utterances  were  not 
so  interpreted  at  the  time,  for  the  party  most  interested  scarcely 
dared  to  trust  such  hopes,  and  the  Irish  Question  was  considered 
of  less  importance  for  the  present  until  the  working  of  the  new 
Land  Act  should  be  tried,  than  it  had  been  the  previous  session. 

But  to  give  the  new  Land  Act  a  fair  trial  was  just  what  the 
Tories  did  not  intend  to  do.  It  was  agitated  anew  in  the  quarter 
whence  trouble  was  least  expected — the  House  of  Lords.  Many 
of  the  peers  regretted  bitterly  that  the  Land  Act  had  been  forced 
upon  them,  and  they  embraced  the  first  opportunity  to  protest. 
The  Ministry  was  now  embarrassed  by  the  Bradlaugh  difficulty. 
Their  action  was  unpopular  with  the  great  majority  of  people,  who 
looked  upon  atheistical  tendencies  with  horror. 

The  landlord  party  in  the  House  of  Lords  attacked  Mr.  Glad- 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  391 

stone  fiercely  because  of  his  utterances  upon  Home  Rule,  and  dwelt 
with  malicious  emphasis  upon  a  pamphlet  which  had  recently  been 
reprinted  by  its  author,  who  had  been  appointed  Secretary  to  the 
Irish  Land  Commission.  This  pamphlet  defended  peasant  pro- 
prietorship, and  spoke  of  the  "  cause  for  which  Parnell  and  Dillon 
and  Davitt  had  labored  and  suffered."  Although  the  writer  re- 
signed his  office  as  soon  as  the  pamphlet  became  the  subject  of 
unfavorable  comment,  this  did  not  serve  to  excuse  the  Government. 
A  motion  for  a  select  committee  to  inquire  into  the  workings  of  the 
Land  Act  was  made  and  carried  by  a  majority  of  more  than  forty 
of  the  Lords,  and  in  spite  of  the  attitude  of  the  Commons,  the  com- 
mittee was  appointed. 

It  must  have  delighted  the  soul  of  Sir  Charles  Dilke  and  his  co- 
republicans  when  the  vote  concerning  Prince  Leopold's  allowance, 
in  view  of  his  approaching  marriage,  was  announced  ;  for  the  pro- 
position to  increase  it  from  £10,000  to  £25,000  was  carried  against 
the  largest  minority  that  ever  opposed  a  grant  to  a  royal  prince. 

It  was  the  general  opinion  among  Englishmen  that  Protection 
had  been  dead  and  buried  long  ago,  but  during  this  session  there 
was  an  effort  made  to  revive  it,  under  the  name  of  fair  trade.  The 
motion  for  a  committee,  in  the  interests  of  fair  trade,  to  consider 
the  operations  of  foreign  tariffs  upon  British  commerce,  was  nega- 
tived by  a  vote  of  140  to  89. 

All  this  time  Mr.  Parnell  was  in  prison.  It  is  true  that  at  some 
time  during  the  month  of  April  he  was  released  on  parole,  to 
attend  the  funeral  of  a  relative,  but  he  was  not  free  to  occupy  his 
seat  in  Parliament.  He  occupied  his  time  in  drafting  a  bill  to 
meet  the  difficulty  of  the  arrears  of  rent,  which  weighed  down  the 
tenant  farmers.  This  Irish  Arrears  Bill  was  kindly  received  by 
Mr.  Gladstone,  as  an  evidence  that  the  Irish  members  would  do 
their  best  to  make  the  Land  Law  of  1881  effective.  But  this 
attitude  of  the  head  of  the  Government  was  not  a  little  puzzling  to 
observers.  Would  the  Ministry  accept  a  measure  proposed  by  a 
man  whom  they  had  imprisoned  for  his  course  in  this  very  matter? 
The  thing  was  so  glaringly  inconsistent  that  it  was  speedily 
rumored  that  the  Irish  policy  would  immediately  be  changed. 

The  prisoners  had  been  privately  offered  their  liberty  if  t)iey 
would  leave  the  country,  if  for  ever  so  short  a  time;  they  might 


392  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

only  cross  the  Channel  and  return  at  once ;  but  to  this  they  would 
not  agree ;  they  had  been  imprisoned  unjustly,  as  they  considered, 
and  they  would  make  no  compromise  to  secure  their  release. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  significant  words  to  which  we  have  before 
alluded  seem  to  have  been  prompted  by  a  kindly  feeling  for  Ire- 
land; he  was  already  progressing  toward  his  later  attitude.  And 
here  we  may  add  a  word  regarding  this  change  in  opinion.  The 
subject  of  Irish  affairs  is  one  on  which  the  densest  ignorance  pre- 
vails in  England,  or  did  prevail  until  the  time  of  which  we  write. 
Mr.  Gladstone  was  no  exception  to  the  rule  ;  he  has  told  us  himself 
that  he  did  not  understand  the  case  until  the  beginning  of  his 
second  administration,  when  he  set  to  work  to  study  it  more 
thoroughly  than  ever  before.  He  had  been  devoting  himself 
mainly  to  this  subject,  and  the  more  he  studied  it,  the  more  he  was 
convinced  that  Ireland  was  the  victim  of  tyranny. 

Finally,  on  May  1st,  Lord  Salisbury  addressed  a  string  of  ques- 
tions to  Lord  Granville,  who  was  the  head  of  the  Government  in 
the  House  of  Lords.  In  answer  to  these,  Lord  Granville  announced 
that  Earl  Cowper  had  resigned  the  Lord-Lieutenancy  of  Ireland 
some  weeks  ago,  but  had  left  it  with  the  Premier  to  say  when  it 
should  take  effect ;  that  it  had  been  accepted,  and  Lord  Spencer 
appointed  in  his  stead.  The  Government  had  decided  to  release 
the  three  imprisoned  members,  and  would  introduce  legislation  on 
the  arrears  question  and  the  Bright  clauses  of  the  Land  Act. 

An  Irishman  might  say  that  everything  was  rose-colored  in  the 
Emerald  Isle;  it  was  indeed  true  that  the  Irish  Question  was 
nearer  its  solution  than  it  had  been  for  many  a  day.  The  Govern- 
ment was  favorably  disposed,  or  at  least  Mr.  Gladstone  was,  and 
his  strong  will  controlled  his  subordinates.  But  from  this  clear  sky 
fell  a  thunderbolt. 

The  announcements  thus  made,  and  similar  ones  in  the  House  of 
Commons  at  the  same  time,  were  the  most  important,  ap  indicating 
a  change  of  ministerial  policy,  that  had  been  made  since  Sir  Robert 
Peel  informed  the  House  that  he  had  abandoned  the  principle  of 
Protection  ;  and  they  produced  a  corresponding  effect.  Of  course 
there  was  but  one  line  of  action  for  Mr.  Forster  to  follow,  his  Irish 
policy  had  been  severely  condemned  by  the  colleagues  who  had  thus 
decided  to  pursue  exactly  the  opposite  course,  and  he  resigned. 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 


39* 


This  vas  highly  satisfactory  to  the  Irish  members,  one  of  whom 
had  ?aid  that  under  the  new  Government  Ireland  had  suffered  from 
three  things — famine,  the  House  of  Lords,  and  Mr.  Forster ;  the 
spefUfer  and  his  hearers  inclining  to  the  opinion  that  the  last  was 
tHe  p-'orst  infliction. 


Earl  Spencer. 

But  everything  was  not  lovely  as  yet.  The  Opposition  de- 
manded to  be  informed  if  the  withdrawal  of  the  famous  No-rent 
manifesto  was  a  condition  of  the  release  of  the  Irish  members.  Mr. 
Gladstone  replied  that  information  tendered  the  Government  had 
justified  and  mainly  prompted  their  action  in  releasing  the  prisoners, 
and  that  this  was  one  of  the  subjects  upon  which  that  information 
had  touched.  Thereupon  Mr.  Dillon  demanded  to  know  if  his 


394  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

name  had  been  used  in  connection  with  the  manifesto.  Mr.  Glad- 
stone replied  in  the  negative.  Similar  questions  were  asked  by 
Messrs.  O'Kelly  and  Sexton,  all  three  disclaiming  such  use  of  their 
names,  if  it  had  been  made;  but  Mr.  Gladstone  answered  as  before. 
Pressed  for  a  definite  reply,  he  said  that  the  information  had  been 
voluntarily  given  by  members  of  the  House,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
make  explanations  when  they  were  present,  but  he  declined  to 
answer  further  questions  on  the  subject  for  the  present. 

This  was  followed  by  a  speech  from  Mr.  Forster,  who  desired  to 
explain  the  reasons  for  his  resignation;  and  who,  in  doing  this, 
managed  to  attack  the  whole  policy  of  the  Government.  He  was 
a  man  who  made  carelessness  an  art ;  even  the  arrangement  of  his 
hair,  which  had  the  appearance  of  never  having  been  combed,  was 
always  so  exactly  the  same  that  its  studied  effect  became  evident. 
His  speech  on  this  occasion  had  the  appearance  of  candor  and  rug- 
ged honesty;  but  like  the  disorder  of  his  dress,  it  was  carefully 
prepared  for  the  occasion. 

In  answering  this  speech,  Mr.  Gladstone  assumed  a  more  defiant 
attitude  than  on  the  occasion  when  he  was  questioned  about  the 
manifesto.  After  the  usual  compliments  upon  a  late  member  of 
the  Government,  he  regretted  that  Mr.  Forster  should  have  allowed 
himself  to  charge  the  Government  with  giving  the  question  of  the 
rules  precedence  over  all  others,  regardless  of  the  condition  of  Irish 
affairs.  As  far  as  the  release  of  Mr.  Parnell  and  his  associates  was 
concerned,  the  Government  was  fully  responsible  for  it  as  for  their 
arrest.  There  had  been  no  concessions  made,  because  there  had 
been  none  required. 

Mr.  Parnell  and  his  friends  had  not  been  required  to  make  any 
statement  that  their  views  had  changed.  The  promised  arrears  bill 
had  nothing  to  do  with  their  release,  for  when  it  was  promised  the 
Ministry  had  not  come  into  possession  of  the  information  which 
prompted  their  action  in  this  matter.  Possessed  of  this  informa- 
tion, it  was  not  possible  for  Ministers  of  the  Crown  to  behave  as  if 
it  had  never  reached  them,  and  continue  the  members  in  their  con- 
finement. 

This  speech  was  the  prelude  to  a  spirited  debate,  in  the  course  of 
which  the  Government  was  bitterly  attacked  by  the  Conservatives, 
and  defended  by  Lord  Hartington  and  Sir  William  Harcourt,  since 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  395 

the  rules  would  not  permit  Mr.  Gladstone  to  speak  again  on  the 
same  subject. 

Three  days  later,  the  English  public — indeed,  the  reading  public 
of  the  world — was  horrified  by  an  occurrence  in  Dublin  which  was 
speedily  told  by  the  wires.  The  place  which  Mr.  Forster  vacated 
had  been  filled  by  the  appointment  of  Lord  Frederick  Cavendish, 
a  younger  son  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  and  a  brother  of  the 
Marquis  of  Hartington.  The  new  Secretary  arrived  in  Dublin, 
Saturday,  May  6th,  and  took  part  in  the  procession  which  attended 
the  entry  of  Lord  Spencer.  The  ceremony  over,  he  took  an  outside 
car  to  drive  to  his  new  official  residence. 

As  he  drove  through  Phoenix  Park,  he  overtook  Mr.  Burke,  a 
Castle  official  of  long  standing;  and  alighted  to  walk  with  him. 
Some  bicyclists  met  the  two  within  a  few  yards  of  the  monument ; 
going  around  the  monument,  these  men  met  an  outside  car  with 
four  men  in  it  driving  rapidly  away.  During  the  brief  interval, 
Lord  Spencer  and  some  of  his  friends,  looking  out  from  the  win- 
dows of  the  vice-regal  mansion  into  the  moonlighted  park,  had  seen 
some  sort  of  a  scuffle  going  on  in  the  road,  but  thought  it  was  only 
rough  horse-play ;  but  it  had  been  the  struggle  between  Cavendish 
and  Burke  and  their  murderers.  The  assassins  had  made  their 
escape  before  any  suspicions  were  aroused;  it  seemed  that  the 
earth  had  opened  and  swallowed  them  up. 

The  news  created  the  most  profound  sensation  everywhere.  Some 
of  the  more  violent  Tories  shook  their  heads  and  bade  their  lis- 
teners see  what  came  of  a  promised  abolition  of  coercion ;  but  in 
general  there  was  no  wild  howl  for  revenge  upon  the  Irish  people. 
The  Irish  parliamentary  leaders  held  a  hurried  consultation,  and 
most  emphatically  and  publicly  condemned  the  deed  of  the  un- 
known assassins  ;  solemnly  declaring  that  until  the  murderers  were 
brought  to  justice,  a  stain  would  rest  upon  the  good  name  of  the 
Irish  people.  Public  meetings  were  held  at  various  points  in  Ire- 
land, and  responsibility  for  the  murder,  or  sympathy  with  the  mur- 
derers, solemnly  disclaimed. 

Up  to  the  date  of  this  murder,  it  had  seemed  that  Ireland  was  at 
last  to  be  governed  in  accordance  with  the  ideas  of  her  representa- 
tives; but  the  dreadful  crime  had  made  that,  for  the  present  at 
least,  an  impossibility.  The  very  day  after  the  murder  took  place, 


396 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 


there  was  a  hurried  Cabinet  meeting,  at  which  it  \vas  resolved  to 
abandon  the  rules  for  the  present,  and  bring  forward  bills  for 
amending  and  extending  the  Land  and  Coercion  Acts  of  the  pre- 
vious session.  It  was  perhaps  unfortunate  for  Ireland  at  this  time 
that  Sir  Charles  Dilke  and  Mr.  Chamberlain  would  not  accept  the 
Secretaryship  without  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet,  and  this  the  Govern- 

nient  would   not   consent  to; 
|  so  that  Mr.  George  Otto  Tro- 
ll velyan  was  appointed  to  the 
lji  position. 

We  may  here  note  that  there 
1  were  several  other  changes  in 
the  Ministry  at  this  time;  but 
the  more  important  ones  came 
later  on,  when  Mr.  Gladstone 
resigned  the  Chancellorship  of 
the  Exchequer  to  Mr.  Chil- 
ders,  Hartington  and  Kimber- 
ley  assumed  other  duties  than 
those  for  which  they  had  been 
originally  appointed,  Lord 
Derby  became  Colonial  Secre- 
tary, and  Mr.  Bright  resigned 
the  post  of  Chancellor  of  the 
Duchy  of  Lancaster.  Mr. 
Herbert  Gladstone  had  been 
appointed  to  a  subordinate 
post  in  the  summer  of  the 
previous  year,  and  was  now  advanced  to  a  vacancy  in  the 
Treasury.  He  had  been  for  some  years  rather  a  prominent  figure 
in  parliament,  though  so  woefully  overshadowed  by  the  greatness 
of  his  name. 

The  funeral  of  Lord  Frederick  Cavendish  took  place  May  llth, 
and  on  the  evening  of  that  day  the  new  Crimes  Bill  was  introduced 
into  the  House  of  Commons.  This  was  a  measure  with  which  Mr. 
Gladstone  does  not  seem  to  have  been  in  full  accord ;  it  was  one 
instance  in  which  his  dominant  will  had  to  give  way.  It  had  fre- 
quently been  remarked  that  he  was  the  one  prominent  figure  in  the 


Hon.  Herbert  Gladstone. 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  397 

Ministry;  it  was  he  who  replied  to  all  questions,  on  all  subjects 
whatever;  the  special  Minister  contenting  himself  with  the  briefest 
of  answers;  but  Sir  William  Harcourt  had  threatened  to  resign  if 
the  Government  would  not  support  his  bill ;  and  Mr.  Gladstone  did 
not  feel  his  support  so  certain  that  he  could  afford  to  dispense  with 
so  great  an  ally  in  debate. 

The  Whigs  were  almost  mutinous;  they  had  never  thoroughly 
trusted  the  "  Grand  Old  Man,"  thinking  him,  as  did  the  Tories  of 
Oxford,  too  brilliant  to  be  entirely  safe;  and  the  progressiveness 
of  his  policy  alarmed  them ;  they  were  not  his  only  foes  concealed 
under  the  guise  of  friends  ;  for  although  Mr.  Forster  had  not  gone 
so  far  as  to  take  a  seat  on  the  Opposition  benches  he  was  all  but 
an  avowed  enemy  to  the  Government. 

The  Crimes  Bill  was,  to  say  the  least,  alarming  to  the  Irish 
members.  Its  first  provision  was  for  the  abolition  of  trial  by  jury 
in  certain  cases,  when  it  was  supposed  that  jurors  would  be  pre- 
vented from  returning  a  condemnatory  verdict  by  intimidation. 
This  was  not  in  itself  specially  objectionable,  for  the  necessity  of  it 
was  recognized ;  but  what  was  strenuously  opposed  was  the  inclu- 
sion of  treason  and  treason-felony  in  the  list  of  crimes  to  be  so  tried. 
The  danger  of  such  a  provision  to  the  Irish  members  themselves 
will  be  readily  seen,  and  the  Bill  was  bitterly  opposed. 

While  the  new  Bill  was  still  pending,  the  question  of  the  Kil- 
mainham  Treaty,  as  the  agreement  by  which  Mr.  Parnell  and  his 
colleagues  had  been  released  from  jail  was  called,  was  again  brought 
before  the  House.  After  what  an  Irishman  would  call  "  A  very 
pretty  quarrel,  barring  no  heads  were  broken,"  Mr.  Balfour 
attacked  the  Government  for  making  a  compromise  with  Mr.  Par- 
nell. Mr.  Gladstone  angrily  replied  that  there  was  no  truth  in  the 
assertion  which  Mr.  Balfour  had  made  about  the  part  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. The  Kilmainham  business  was  not  settled  by  this 
debate,  but  kept  cropping  up  throughout  the  remainder  of  the  ses- 
sion ;  though  the  interest  was  lessened  by  the  condition  of  the  main 
Irish  Question. 

The  Irish  members  obstructed  the  passage  of  the  Crimes  Bill  by 
every  means  in  their  power ;  but  so  cunningly  was  their  work  done 
that  there  was  no  excuse  for  an  "  urgency  motion/'  or  for  other 
strong  measures.  The  obstruction  came  to  a  head  on  the  last 


398 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 


night  of  June.  Early  in  the  afternoon  rumors  of  an  all-night  sit- 
ting began  to  circulate  in  the  lobbies,  and  the  prediction  did  not 
lack  fulfillment.  It  was  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  Mr. 
Playfair  rose  to  warn  the  House  that  legislation  had  been  system- 
atically obstructed,  and  that  he  should  have  to  indicate  the  members 
who  were  engaged  in  it.  At  this  warning,  those  members  who  had 
been  in  other  parts  of  the  building  came  hurrying  to  the  legislative 
chamber,  and  there  was  a  good  audience  when,  in  accordance  with 

his  threat,  Mr.  Playfair  rose 
to  indicate  the  obstructionists. 
Fifteen  members  were 
found  in  the  list ;  but  Mr. 
Childers,  whose  duty  it  was, 
in  the  absence  of  Mr.  Glad- 
stone, to  move  their  suspen- 
sion, inserted  another;  and 
the  motion  was  carried  by  a 
vote  of  a  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  to  twenty-seven.  The 
remaining  Irish  members, 
nothing  daunted  by  the  fate 
of  their  colleagues,  carried 
on  the  debate  with  as  much 
vigor  as  ever,  until  the  sus- 
pension of  nine  more  of  them 
rendered  it  possible  to  rush 
the  bill  through.  After  a 
Hon.  Arthur  BaJfour.  continuous  sitting  of  twenty- 

three  hours,  the  committee  of  the  whole  was  enabled  to  report  pro- 
gress, and  the  bill  was  passed  as  far  as  the  thirtieth  clause. 

Mr.  Gladstone  moved  that  the  business  of  the  House  was  urgent 
on  the  following  Tuesday  (July  4th) ;  but  the  haste  with  which  the 
bill  was  pushed  was  not  altogether  favorable  to  the  Government, 
for  the  Irish  members  who  had  not  been  suspended  refused  to  take 
any  further  part  in  the  proceedings,  and  their  withdrawal  from  the 
House  caused  the  defeat  of  the  Government  on  one  of  the  amend- 
ments ;  since  the  Whigs  were  opposed  to  any  amendment  which 
lessened  the  stringency,  and  their  defection  made  the  Government 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  39J> 

dependent  upon  the  Third  Party.  There  were  many  prophecies  of 
a  change  which  was  supposed  to  be  imminent — either  a  resignation 
or  an  appeal  to  the  country ;  but  Mr.  Gladstone  explained  that  the 
state  of  Ireland  was  such  that  he  would  not  withdraw  the  bill,  nor 
would  he  resign. 

The  bill  was  finally  passed  on  the  9th,  and  went  up  to  the  Lords. 
They  accorded  it  a  much  more  gracious  reception  than  they  gave  to 
the  Arrears  Bill,  a  measure  which  they  sent  back  to  the  Commons 
with  several  amendments  which  rendered  it  practically  valueless. 
It  was  a  direct  challenge  to  the  Premier,  who  very  coolly  picked  up 
the  glove  thus  arrogantly  flung  down.  He  would  compromise  with 
the  Peers ;  certainly,  but  the  compromise  which  he  was  willing  to 
make  consisted  in  the  acceptance  of  an  amendment  which  did  not 
mean  anything,  and  the  rejection  of  those  which  did.  Lord  Salis- 
bury wanted  to  fight  it  out,  but  Mr.  Gladstone  had  the  House  of 
Commons  at  his  back,  and  the  House  of  Lords  was  by  no  means 
ready  to  follow  Lord  Salisbury  into  the  battle ;  so  the  Peers 
yielded,  and  passed  the  Arrears  Bill. 

The  debate  on  the  Crimes  Bill  and  the  difficulty  with  the 
Arrears  Bill  had  been  such  that  it  was  confidently  expected  that  the 
Government  must  fall.  We  have  alluded  to  the  stand  which  the 
Whigs  had  taken  of  late,  and  have  seen  that  no  help  was  to  be  ex- 
pected from  those  Home  Rulers  who  ordinarily  sat  on  the  Liberal 
side.  Mr.  Forster  was  no  mean  adversary,  and  many  of  the  Min- 
istry were  bitterly  angry  with  Mr.  Gladstone  for  his  dominating 
control  of  the  Government.  Mr.  Bright  was  almost  the  only  man 
of  prominence  who  clung  to  the  Premier  with  all  of  his  old  admira- 
tion, which  amounted  almost  to  adoration  ;  and  the  middle  of  July 
saw  him  leave  the  Ministry.  His  resignation  was  forced  upon  him 
by  the  action  of  the  Government  with  regard  to  Egypt,  it  being 
well  known  that  he  could  not  be  a  member  of  any  Ministry  which 
was  a  party  to  war. 

It  is  time  that  we  should  give  some  attention  to  this  contest  in 
which  England  was  now  involved.  The  financial  condition  of 
Egypt  was  such  that  the  Khedive  had  requested  the  intervention  of 
the  Powers,  and  a  Ministry  has  been  formed  with  an  Englishman 
and  a  Frenchman  in  it;  the  latter  being  appointed  solely  to  satisfy 
France  that  England  was  not  seeking  any  undue  advantage.  But 


400  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

there  was  a  National  Party  in  Egypt  which  resented  these  appoint- 
ments very  much,  and  finally  succeeded  in  making  its  power  felt. 
The  Khedive  found  that  he  had  exchanged  masters ;  for  Arabi  Bey 
was  the  real  ruler. 

During  the  first  months  of  1882  there  was  indeed  a  calm,  but  it 
was  the  calm  which  precedes  the  storm.  The  English  Government 
regarded  Arabi  as  simply  an  adventurer,  who  was  not  worth  any 
attention.  France  and  England  were  both  agreed,  however,  that 
they  would  have  a  hand  in  the  government  of  Egypt,  and  Egypt 
could  not  defy  both.  But  a  change  of  Ministry  in  France  caused 
that  country  to  change  her  policy,  and  the  Egyptian  Nationalists 
saw  that  this  was  their  opportunity. 

In  April,  1882,  a  plot  was  discovered,  so  said  Arabi's  officers,  to 
assassinate  that  high  dignitary.  The  accused  were  tried  in  secret 
and  found  guilty  of  a  plot  to  overthrow  both  Tewfik  and  Arabi, 
and  restore  Ismail  Pasha ;  but  the  Khedive  refused  to  sign  the 
decrees  of  the  court.  It  was  hinted  that  this  refusal  would  cause 
the  massacre  of  foreigners  in  Egypt,  and  the  English  and  French 
Governments  at  once  ordered  their  ironclads  to  Alexandria,  the 
order  coupled  with  a  demand  that  Arabi  Pasha,  as  he  was  now 
titled,  should  be  compelled  to  leave  the  country,  along  with 
his  immediate  allies. 

In  the  meantime  the  utmost  confusion  reigned  in  Alexandria, 
where  there  is  a  considerable  number  of  European  residents.  The 
crisis  came  June  11;  we  do  not  propose  to  discuss  who  struck  the 
first  blow,  for  that  has  never  been  definitely  settled,  but  there  were 
many  people  killed,  and  all  the  Europeans  who  could  get  away  did 
so.  The  British  Government  hesitated  about  landing  troops,  even 
after  this  riot,  and  much  was  trusted  to  diplomacy.  But  suddenly 
England,  after  many  endeavors  to  secure  European  concert,  resolved 
to  act  alone.  Due  notice  was  given  of  the  proposed  interference  by 
arms ;  but  the  Egyptians  kept  on  with  their  fortifications.  The 
French  fleet  steamed  away ;  the  English  vessels  took  up  their 
positions  for  the  siege. 

The  bombardment  continued  until  a  flag  of  truce  was  raised ; 
but  the  admiral  had  not  a  sufficient  force  to  occupy  the  town,  and 
a  scene  of  the  wildest  confusion  ensued.  Finally,  order  was  re- 
stored by  the  stern  action  of  the  marines,  and  the  Khedive  was 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  401 

escorted  back  to  the  city.  The  action  of  the  English  Government 
was  bitterly  condemned  as  inconsistent  with  the  former  opposition 
of  the  Liberals  to  war,  when  the  Conservatives  had  been  in  power ; 
and  the  progress  of  the  war  during  the  summer  of  1882  was  such 
that  their  fault  was  not  hidden  by  their  success,  as  the  faults  of  a 
Ministry  sometimes  are. 

The  health  of  Mr.  Gladstone  during  these  months  had  been  such 
as  to  give  room  for  the  gravest  apprehension.  Not  only  was  his 
physical  strength  rapidly  failing,  but  it  was  seriously  alleged  that 
his  mental  powers  were  giving  way.  Still,  with  a  dogged  persist" 
ency,  he  kept  on  ;  and  his  iron  will  still  made  itself  felt  in  the 
Cabinet. 

Parliament  was  prorogued  in  August  until  October  24th.  During 
the  recess,  the  war  with  Egypt  became  a  little  more  popular,  the 
battle  of  Tel-el-Kebir  resulting  in  a  victory  for  the  British.  This 
was  practically  the  end  of  the  war,  for  Arabi  was  a  prisoner ;  and 
although  there  were  some  positions  which  the  Nationalists  still 
held,  it  was  not  long  before  they  surrendered. 

The  autumn  session  was  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  new 
rules  which  had  been  set  aside  when  the  Phoenix  Park  murders 
made  coercion  the  question  of  the  hour.  Mr.  Gladstone  at  once 
made  an  urgency  motion,  which  was  carried  without  difficulty,  and 
the  House  adjourned.  The  debate  began  again  the  next  day,  and 
was  continued  with  varying  interest.  The  Conservatives  had  no 
leader  worthy  of  the  name,  and  the  party  suffered  thereby.  Sir 
Stafford  Northcote  was  nominally  the  head  of  the  Opposition,  but 
there  was  no  attention  whatever  paid  to  his  opinions.  His  mild 
urbanity  was  not  sufficient  to  make  him  a  trusted  and  efficient 
leader ;  and  the  members  of  his  own  party,  notably  of  that  branch 
of  it  which  was  led  by  Lord  Randolph  Churchill,  lost  no  opportu- 
nity of  displaying  their  contempt  for  him. 

On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Gladstone  seemed  to  have  regained  all 
that  he  seemed  on  the  verge  of  losing.  Richard  was  himself  again, 
and  the  Liberals  had  fresh  courage.  Said  a  newspaper  writer  of 
the  time :  "  It  is  marvellous  how  small  need  be  the  occasion  to 
elicit  from  him  a  speech  which  dazzles,  amuses,  inspires  and  be- 
wilders the  hearer.  When  poor,  dull,  shambling  Sir  Stafford 
Northcote  gets  up  after  one  of  these  displays,  the  effect  is  about  as 
26 


402  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

pleasant  as  the  shrill  note  of  a  tin  whistle  after  the  sublime  notes 
of  an  organ  fugue." 

At  this  time  the  figure  of  Gladstone  towered  higher  than  ever 
above  the  level  of  the  House  of  Commons.  He  was  without  a 
rival  of  importance;  all  his  enemies  seemed  utterly  powerless 
against  him;  it  was  Gladstone  or  utter  chaos;  and  the  Tories 
ground  their  teeth  when  they  saw  that  it  was  so. 

If  the  leader  of  the  Conservatives  was  like  oatmeal  porridge,  well 
sweetened,  palatable  and  nutritious,  but  not  in  the  least  stimulating 
there  was  one  man  who  aspired  to  his  position  who  was  decidedly 
champagny.  This  was  Lord  Randolph  Churchill,  whose  long- 
continued  contempt  for  Northcote  culminated  in  an  open  attack 
during  this  autumn  session.  The  Opposition  was  badly  demoral- 
ized, and  the  Government  carried  its  point  in  regard  to  the  long 
discussed  rules. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  improvement  in  health  had  been  only  temporary, 
and  at  the  beginning  of  winter  he  was  advised  by  his  physicians  to 
try  the  south  of  France.  He  had  of  late  been  subject  to  fits  of  pro- 
found depression,  and  this  was  regarded  as  a  most  ominous  symp- 
tom. He  remained  at  Cannes  all  winter,  not  returning  to  Parlia- 
liament  until  March  10th.  It  was  during  his  absence  that  the 
evidence  of  Carey  regarding  the  Phoenix  Park,  murders  was 
taken.  The  prosecution  of  Messrs.  O'Brien,  Harrington  and 
others  also  took  place;  but  these  events  hardly  have  a  place 
in  the  biography  of  the  Premier. 

There  was  very  hearty  advice  tendered  him  by  his  colleagues 
to  remain  at  Cannes  until  after  Easter ;  but  although  the  mild 
climate  had  not  done  all  that  it  was  expected  to  do,  he  was 
unwilling  to  give  more  time  to  the  care  of  his  health.  The 
Ministers  without  Mr.  Gladstone  were  like  schoolboys  in  the 
absence  of  their  teacher;  they  enjoyed  their  liberty  exceedingly, 
and  we  cannot  say  that  they  made  good  use  of  it  in  all  re- 
spects. 

There  had  been  a  very  distinct  announcement  that  this  was 
not  to  be  an  Irish  session ;  but  the  Parnellites  kept  hammer- 
ing away  at  the  Irish  Question  as  if  they  had  heard  nothing 
of  the  kind.  This  gave  the  impression  that  the  Irishmen  would 
break  the  session,  and  the  session  would  break  Mr.  Gladstonee 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  403 

His  critics  did  not  know  what  a  wonderful  fund  of  vitality 
there  was  in  the  man  of  seventy-three. 

But  if  Mr.  Gladstone  were  hardly  equal  to  any  sustained  con- 
test, there  was  no  prospect  that  the  Conservatives  would  be 
able  to  force  any  such  upon  him.  Their  ranks  appeared  to  be 
hopelessly  disorganized;  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  had  added  ill- 
ness to  the  natural  unfitness  for  his  position ;  and  Lord  Ran- 
dolph Churchill  and  his  allies  never  failed  to  cast  disrespect 
upon  the  titular  leaders  of  the  party.  It  was  openly  said  that  the 
young  nobleman  was  but  an  instrument  of  his  father,  the  Duke 
of  Maryborough,  in  the  endeavor  to  make  Lord  Salisbury  the 
chief  of  the  Conservative  party;  an  effort  which  was  not  with- 
out success  later  on. 

The  Tories,  thus  disabled  from  serious  combat,  adopted  the 
tactics  which  had  been  so  brilliantly  successful  under  the  skillful 
management  of  the  Irish  leader,  and  became  indomitable  ob" 
structionists. 

If  the  Conservatives  had  their  worst  enemies  within  their 
own  party  the  Liberals  were  hardly  more  fortunate.  Mr.  Forster 
had  never  recovered  his  good  temper  since  the  Government 
so  emphatically  condemned  his  Irish  policy,  and  the  culmina- 
tion of  this  ill  humor  came  in  a  bitter  personal  attack  upon 
Mr.  Gladstone.  This  was  fun  for  the  Tories,  who  frequently 
interrupted  him  by  their  ecstatic  cheers,  for  his  speech  was 
chiefly  about  the  war  policy  of  the  Government.  This  attack 
was  a  most  successful  one,  for  it  had  a  tremendous  effect  upon 
Mr.  Gladstone.  He  was  naturally  easily  affected,  and  when 
he  arose  to  reply  his  frame  fairly  quivered  with  his  emotions. 
He  slashed  at  Forster  without  stint  or  mercy,  calling  him 
"the  man  of  peace  who  preached  war."  The  storehouse  of 
his  scorn  was  ransacked  for  expressions  suited  to  the  occasion. 
Meanwhile  Mr.  Forster  sat  trembling  at  the  spirit  which  he 
had  himself  invoked ;  shading  his  face  with  his  hand  he  made  no 
sign  of  reply  to  the  great  orator. 

The  Government  found  itself  involved  in  difficulties  which  threat- 
ened to  be  very  serious,  when  the  result  of  the  negotiations  with 
M.  de  Lesseps  was  announced.  That  eminent  engineer  was  then 
advocating  the  cutting  of  a  second  Suez  canal,  and  in  this  project 


404  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

the  Ministry  agreed  to  help  him.  But  the  plan  raised  opposition 
at  once ;  not  only  among  the  Tories,  from  whom  it  was  only  to  be 
expected,  but  among  many  of  the  Liberals  as  well.  Under  such 
circumstances,  the  Government  quietly  withdrew  its  promises  to 
M.  de  Lesseps,  on  the  ground  that  it  had  acted  in  the  way  that  it 
thought  would  be  most  acceptable  to  the  country,  but  the  country 
had  emphatically  disapproved  of  that  course.  The  Opposition  at 
one  time  had  an  excellent  opportunity  to  defeat  the  Government 
upon  this  measure,  but  lost  it  by  their  bungling.  The  Govern- 
ment had  stood  many  storms,  and  was  not  to  fall  for  two  years. 

But  before  this  had  come  up  for  discussion,  there  had  been  a 
measure  forced  upon  Parliament  by  the  attempt  to  blow  up  the 
public  buildings.  About  the  middle  of  March,  there  had  been  an 
effort  directed  against  the  office  of  the  Local  Government  Board, 
but  beyond  the  breaking  of  a  great  many  windows,  and  the  shat- 
tering of  one  wall,  there  was  not  much  damage  done.  Other 
attempts  were  frustrated  by  accidents  to  the  infernal  machines  used, 
but  some  were  partially  successful.  Finally,  in  the  first  week  of 
April,  the  police  discovered  a  conspiracy  of  eight  men  who  were 
engaged  in  the  importation  of  the  materials  for  the  explosive,  and 
the  manufactured  article.  Their  connection  with  Irish-American 
advocates  of  the  use  of  dynamite  was  clearly  proved.  To  meet 
such  cases  the  Explosives  Bill  was  introduced  into  the  House  of 
Commons,  April  9th,  and  passed  through  all  its  stages  within  two 
hours,  was  sent  to  the  Lords,  and  became  a  law  at  once. 

The  Bradlaugh  question  came  up  again  this  session.  Lord 
Hartington  had  announced  at  the  beginning  of  the  session,  in 
answer  to  a  question  that  the  Government  intended  to  bring  in  a 
bill  affirming  that  members  who  objected  to  the  oath  should  be 
permitted  to  affirm ;  and  this  bill  came  up  for  its  second  reading 
early  in  May.  There  was  a  bitter  debate,  and  the  defeat  of  the 
Government  was  inevitable;  it  was  thought  that  the  Opposition 
would  have  a  considerable  majority.  But  the  Ministry  took  care 
to  state  that  this  was  a  question  upon  which  the  House  must  decide, 
not  a  measure  which  would  by  its  passage  or  otherwise  mean  a 
defeat  for  the  Government. 

When,  therefore,  after  a  scene  of  intense  excitement,  the  division 
was  taken,  the  only  thing  surprising  about  the  vote  was  the  fact 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  405 

that  the  nays  had  a  majority  of  no  more  than  three.  But  although 
the  Government  had  declared  that  this  was  not  regarded  as  a  vote 
of  confidence,  the  defeat  had  its  effect  upon  the  minds  of  men. 
Difficulties  had  beset  the  second  Gladstone  administration  since  its 
very  inception;  it  hung,  ofttimes,  by  a  thread  which  a  single  vote 
might  snap ;  and  men  felt  that  that  thread  was  worn  thinner  and 
thinner  by  such  events  as  this. 

The  Egyptian  troubles  of  the  Government  had  not  come  to  an 
end  with  the  victory  of  Tel-el-Kebir,  but  were  to  continue  for 
some  time  yet  under  the  form  of  the  Soudan  difficulties.  Briefly 
stated,  the  people  of  the  Soudan  had  revolted  against  the  authority  of 
Egypt,  their  leader  being  El  Mahdi,  or  the  Prophet,  as  he  was  called 
by  his  followers.  The  coming  of  a  prophet  who  was  to  perform 
certain  things  for  the  waiting  Mussulmans  had  been  foretold,  it  was 
said,  by  the  Koran;  and  this  man's  career  was  a  fulfillment  of  the 
prophecies.  Armed  with  such  authority  as  this  claim  gave  him 
over  the  people  of  this  section,  he  had  defied  the  rule  of  the 
Khedive. 

The  Soudan  was  a  desolate  district,  the  Government  argued,  and 
not  worth  asserting  a  claim  over ;  and  it  was  far  from  certain  that 
the  Khedive  had  any  real  right  to  control  it.  England,  therefore, 
advised  Egypt  to  abandon  it,  and  fix  the  southern  boundary  of  her 
possessions  considerably  to  the  north  of  the  late  position ;  but  there 
were  European  residents  and  garrisons  in  the  disputed  territory 
which  she  was  thus  virtually  commanded  to  relinquish,  and  the 
safety  of  these  must  be  cared  for.  It  was  to  protect  these  that 
England  was  now  anxious  ;  and  the  disasters  which,  later  on,  made 
the  name  of  the  Soudan  memorable,  were  directly  traceable  to  this 
endeavor. 

Such  was  the  main  question  that  occupied  the  minds  of  the  Min- 
isters during  the  recess.  Other  threatened  troubles  there  were,  in 
connection  with  other  Powers ;  Russia  appeared  to  be  aiming  at 
more  than  her  due  share  of  Asiatic  territory ;  and  France  was 
apparently  offending  in  the  same  quarter.  The  Russian  advance 
was  considered  especially  inimical  to  England,  as  threatening  her 
overland  intercourse  with  her  Indian  possessions. 

Parliament  opened  February  5th.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  in  more 
robust  health  than  he  had  been  for  some  time,  and  had  amused 


406 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 


himself  during  the  recess  by  felling  trees,  as  if  it  were  the  midst 
of  summer.  It  was  well  that  he  had  this  store  of  strength  in 
reserve,  for  all  of  it  was  to  be  needed  during  the  coming  session. 

At  the  Cabinet  meetings  preceding  the  opening  of  Parliament  it 
was  decided  to  introduce  a  Reform  measure.  Such  a  bill  was 
accordingly  considered,  and  the  conclusion  arrived  at  that,  notwith- 
standing the  dis- 
turbed state  of 
that  country,  Ire- 
land must  be 
given  her  share  of 
the  extended  rep- 
resentation. But 
the  Conservatives 


Mr.  Gladstone  as  a  Woodman — His  Favorite  Recreation. 

were  bitterly  opposed  to  any  measure  of  Reform,  considering  that 
the  Act  passed  by  the  Disraeli  Government  had  been  quite  liberal 
enough ;  and  their  opposition  manifested  itself  long  before  the 
opening  of  the  session.  One  prominent  Conservative  declared  that 
the  session  would  begin,  continue,  and  end  in  a  storm. 

But  the  chief  difficulty  of  the  Government  was  in  regard  to  the 
Egyptian  troubles.    The  problem  received  its  solution,  they  thought, 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  407 

when  "  Chinese "  Gordon  agreed  to  undertake  the  task  of  pacifica- 
tion. He  was  appointed  for  this  task  in  January,  and  was  on  his 
way  to  the  Soudan  before  the  session  began.  He  refused  a  military 
escort,  believing  that  it  would  render  his  plans  futile,  and  set  off 
across  the  desert  with  a  mere  handful  of  followers.  The  character 
of  Gordon  has  been  too  often  delineated  of  late  years  for  it  to  be 
necessary  here  to  expatiate  upon  his  virtues ;  and  we  shall  take  for 
granted  that  our  readers  are  well  acquainted  with  the  course  of 
these  comparatively  recent  events,  and  make  only  such  reference 
as  may  be  necessary  to  explain  the  position  of  the  Gladstone 
Ministry. 

It  remains  only  for  us  to  say,  that  the  course  which  England  had 
pursued  in  this  matter  was  unanimously  approved  by  the  other 
nations  of  Europe ;  and  that  while  the  general  anxiety  regarding 
the  fate  of  Gordon  was  intense,  k  was  felt  that  he  could  settle  the 
difficulty,  if  it  were  in  human  power. 

The  Queen's  speech  promised  a  great  deal  of  legislation.  It  was 
vaively  remarked  by  a  journal  of  the  day,  that  the  Ministers 
kerned  to  think  that  Parliament  met  with  the  intention  of  transact- 
ing business.  It  was  announced  that  there  would  be  a  Bill  for  the 
Extension  of  the  Franchise,  which  would  apply  to  Ireland  as  well 
as  to  the  sister  kingdoms ;  that  the  extension  and  reform  of  local 
government  would  be  considered ;  that  it  was  proposed  to  extend 
municipal  government  to  the  whole  of  the  metropolis;  and  many 
minor  reforms  were  promised. 

The  Houses  had  hardly  met  before  the  Egyptian  troubles  came 
up  for  discussion.  An  amendment  to  the  address,  censuring  the 
Government  for  its  course  in  this  matter,  was  presented ;  but 
although  there  were  but  ninety-seven  members  present  when  the 
division  was  taken,  the  Ministry  had  a  majority  of  fifty-five.  The 
vote  was  the  more  favorable,  because  of  the  disaster  to  Baker 
Pasha's  force  for  the  relief  of  Tokar.  But  this  was  not  the  last  of 
the  subject. 

A  week  after  Parliament  met,  there  was  a  vote  of  censure  pro- 
posed in  both  Houses.  This,  of  itself,  indicated  the  growing  con- 
fidence of  the  Conservatives,  since  the  proposing  such  a  vote,  when 
there  was  small  prospect  of  carrying  it  through,  was  a  great  mistake. 
In  the  House  of  Lords  the  vote  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  one 


408  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

hundred,  after  a  very  brief  debate ;  but  the  Commons  had  more  to 
say  about  it. 

The  Premier  defended  his  course  in  a  speech  which  was  remark- 
ably eloquent  even  for  him.  The  troubles  had  grown  directly  out  of 
the  Dual  Control,  a  system  which  had  been  the  result  of  Conserva- 
tive ingenuity  when  that  party  held  the  reigns  of  power,  and  for 
which  the  Liberal  Government  could  not  therefore  be  held  fairly 
responsible.  He  was  ably  seconded  by  other  members  of  the 
Ministry ;  indeed,  the  Liberals  had  by  far  the  best  of  the  argu- 
ment, and  as  the  Irish  members  had  promised  to  hold  aloof  from 
the  question,  a  considerable  majority  was  hoped  for.  But  the 
Parnellites  reconsidered  this  pledge,  and  finally  followed  the  Con- 
servatives into  the  lobby.  The  debate  had  lasted  a  week,  and 
resulted  in  a  majority  for  the  Government  of  forty-nine. 

This  result  was  without  doubt  brought  about  by  the  success  for 
the  time  being  of  the  Government's  policy ;  had  the  fortunes  of 
war  been  less  favorable,  the  majority  might  have  been  on  the  other 
side. 

During  the  time  that  the  vote  of  censure  was  still  pending,  Mr. 
Bradlaugh  showed  himself  as  irrepressible  as  ever;  but  being 
excluded  from  the  House,  he  applied  for  the  Chiltern  Hundreds, 
an  office  without  pay  or  duties,  but  appointment  to  which  is  incom- 
patible with  membership  of  Parliament ;  as  the  latter  is  an  honor 
which  cannot  be  resigned,  a  British  legislator  who  desires  to  retire 
applies  for  this  post,  forfeits  his  seat,  and  resigns  the  stewardship 
of  the  Chiltern  Hundreds  at  once,  that  it  may  be  vacant  and  wait- 
ing for  the  next  applicant.  Mr.  Bradlaugh,  having  gone  through 
this  little  ceremony,  the  Government  went  through  that  other  little 
ceremony  of  issuing  a  new  writ  for  Northampton,  and  Mr.  Brad- 
laugh  went  through  the  third  ceremony  of  being  elected. 

The  two  Houses  of  Parliament  may  be  said  (somewhat  irrever- 
ently) to  resemble  that  little  girl  Longfellow  tells  of,  who, 

"  When  she  was  good,  she  was  very  good  indeed, 
But  when  she  was  bad  she  was  horrid." 

They  showed  themselves  very  good  indeed  over  the  question  of 
erecting  better  dwellings  for  the  poor  in  the  great  centres  of  popu- 
lation ;  and  there  was  quite  a  remarkable  case  of  party  union. 
In  the  meantime  the  Egyptian  question  had  raised  its  head  again, 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 


409 


and  was  spitting  fire  at  the  Ministry.  In  a  debate  which  took 
place  at  the  beginning  of  April,  Mr.  Gladstone  inveighed  bitterly 
against  the  opposition's  constant  harping  on  this  subject ;  seventeen 
nights,  he  said,  had  been  spent  in  fruitless  discussion  of  the  Soudan 
question,  and  the  Ministry  had  been  much  embairassed  by  this  course. 


General  (Chinese)  Gordon. 

Mr.  Gladstone,  it  was  said,  had  "  rarely,  if  ever  surpassed,  this  re- 
markable philippic  for  energy  or  earnestness."  The  Government  was 
sustained  by  the  testimony  of  Gordon  himself  at  this  time,  as  com- 
munication with  Khartoum  had  not  yet  been  interrupted,  and  dis- 
patches were  frequently  received  from  him,  stating  that  he  was 
entirely  safe,  and  had  much  hope  of  the  success  of  his  mission. 
A  little  later,  however,  the  dispatches  assumed  a  less  confident 


410  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

tone,  and  the  Government  determined  to  send  an  expedition  to  rescue 
the  popular  hero.  This  determination  was  perhaps  the  result  of  Mr. 
Gladstone's  restoration  to  health ;  as  there  was  a  perceptible  difference 
in  the  vigor  of  the  Government's  Egyptian  policy  during  his  pros- 
tration and  after  his  return  to  the  active  conduct  of  affairs. 

But  the  Conservatives  were  not  deterred  from  their  attack.     Sir 
Michael  Hicks- Beach  replied  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  speech  a  few  days 
later,  by  moving  a  vote  of  censure  upon  the  Government's  Egyp- 
tian policy ;  a  vote  of  cen- 
sure had  come  to  be  quite 
the    usual    thing    at    this 
time.    Mr.  Gladstone's  im- 
passioned    speech    during 
this    debate    pledged    the 
Government  to  secure  Gor- 
don's   personal    safety,   if 
such  a  thing  were  within 
human  power.    The  debate 
was  a  warm  one,  and  in- 
cluded a  bitter  personal  at- 
tack upon  the  Premier  by 
I  his  pretended  ally  and  late 
|  colleague,     Mr.     Forster; 
'  who  was  answered  by  Lord 
Hartington,  since  the  rules 
of  the  House  did  not  allow 
Sir  Michael  Hickx-Be<ich.  Mr.    Gladstone    to    speak 

the  second  time  on  the  question  then  before  it. 

There  was  considerable  anxiety  to  know  what  would  be  the 
course  of  the  Parnellites  upon  this  occasion.  They  remained  stub- 
bornly in  their  seats  as  the  Liberals  and  Conservatives  filed  out  to 
the  lobbies ;  then  rising  at  last  followed  the  Opposition.  Notwith- 
standing this  adverse  vote,  the  motion  was  lost  by  a  majority  of 
twenty-eight ;  and  the  members  of  the  Government  party  went 
home  triumphant  through  the  gray  of  that  early  May  morning. 
The  Government  had  certainly  lost  prestige,  but  it  was  equally 
certain  that  the  Opposition  had  not  gained  any. 

Prorogued   in   August,  Parliament  did    not   meet  again   until 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  41 1 

October  24th.  In  the  meantime,  Mr.  Gladstone  had  paid  a  visit  to 
his  Scotch  constituents  and  their  neighbors,  and  been  received  with 
an  enthusiasm  which  made  amends  for  much  that  was  unpleasant 
in  his  parliamentary  life.  His  passage  through  the  crowded  streets 
of  Aberdeen  was  a  veritable  triumphal  progress. 

Parliament  adjourned  over  the  Christmas  holidays,  not  meeting 
again  until  February  19th. 

The  debate  upon  the  Address  furnished  an  opportunity  to  Lord 
Salisbury  to  attack  the  Government  on  the  old  question  of  the 
Soudan  troubles ;  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  also  proposed  a  vote  of 
censure  in  the  lower  House.  Mr.  Gladstone,  who  had  looked  care- 
worn and  pale  at  the  opening  of  the  session,  was  more  like  himself 
when  the  resolution  came  up  for  debate,  and  addressed  the  House 
with  his  usual  vigor.  After  a  thrilling  eulogium  of  Gordon,  he 
asserted  that  the  policy  which  the  Government  had  pursued  had 
maintained  the  safety  of  Egypt,  and  had  checked  the  progress  of 
the  slave  trade.  It  should  be  noted  that  while  the  Opposition 
never  lost  an  opportunity  of  attacking  the  Egyptian  policy  of  the 
Government,  the  Conservatives  appeared  to  have  no  other  course 
to  recommend;  they  did  not  know  just  how  to  do  it,  excepting 
that  they  did  not  like  the  Government's  way. 

Another  difficulty  had  arisen  in  the  Russian  advance  in  Central 
Asia.  Russia  seemed  to  be  the  embodiment  to  the  British  mind  of 
all  that  is  selfishly  ambitious,  and  every  movement  was  watched  with 
a  distrustful  jealousy.  The  English  had  had  more  trouble  with 
Afghanistan  than  it  was  well  worth,  but  they  were  willing  to  take 
much  more  rather  than  see  their  overland  path  to  India  barred  by 
Russian  encroachments.  Mr.  Gladstone,  however,  was  in  hopes 
that  the  troubles  would  be  satisfactorily  settled  by  negotiations 
which  were  in  progress,  but  it  proved  that  he  was  too  sanguine. 

The  Russian  Government  continued  to  disown  the  acts  of  its 
agents  and  to  promise  to  give  instructions  that  would  prevent  fur- 
ther difficulties ;  but  the  agents  were  evidently  not  advised  that 
they  were  acting  contrary  to  the  Government's  wishes,  and  the 
instructions  were  never  given.  War  was  therefore  imminent,  and 
the  Government  asked  for  a  war  vote  of  £11,000,000.  This  was 
not  to  be  applied  exclusively  to  military  uses  in  Afghanistan,  but 
might  also  be  applied  toward  the  expenses  of  operations  in  the 


412  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

Soudan  if  necessary.  To  this  the  Conservatives  would  not  consent ; 
the  Soudan  had  cost  the  country  enough  already,  not  only  in  money, 
but  in  life ;  above  all,  in  the  loss  of  gallant  Gordon,  whose  death 
had  saddened  many  a  heart  in  England.  Kartoum  had  fallen,  the 
Soudan  expedition  was  practically  a  failure,  and  the  Opposition  did 
not  believe  in  sending  good  money  after  bad ;  if  the  Government 
wanted  two  war  votes,  let  them  ask  for  them  separately. 

Mr.  Gladstone  made  one  of  the  most  remarkable  speeches  of  this 
Ministry  upon  the  occasion  of  asking  for  this  vote  of  credit,  and  the 
request  of  the  Government  was  finally  granted.  But  it  proved  that 
the  fears  of  war  were  not  well  grounded  ;  for  the  resumption  of 
friendly  relations  was  duly  chronicled  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  whose 
statement  was  received  with  enthusiastic  cheers. 

The  budget  was  introduced  April  30th.  Those  of  the  preceding 
two  years  had  been  simple  measures ;  the  most  notable  provision  of 
that  of  1884  being  the  issuing  of  ten  shilling  tokens,  worth  intrin- 
sically only  nine  shillings  ;  the  difference  between  the  real  and  the 
legal  tender  value  being  intended  to  defray  the  cost  of  calling 
in  and  recoining  the  numerous  coins  which  had  become  light 
weight  by  long  wear.  Though  this  plan  had  received  the  approba- 
tion of  many  leading  economists,  it  was  hotly  opposed  by  Lord 
Randolph  Churchill  and  some  others,  and  ridiculed  by  most  of  the 
newspapers. 

The  budget  of  1885  was  much  more  complex,  dealing  with  the 
war  vote  as  it  must.  The  estimated  expenditure  was  ,£99,872,000, 
and  there  was  an  estimated  deficit  of  .£14,912,000.  To  meet  this 
enormous  deficiency,  it  was  proposed  to  raise  the  income  tax  one 
penny,  increase  the  duty  upon  spirituous  and  malt  liquors,  and  raise 
some  other  duties  of  minor  importance.  The  Conservatives  opposed 
these  taxes  on  spirituous  and  malt  liquors,  on  the  ground  that  there 
should  be  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  tax  on  wines,  but  it  was 
not  thought  that  this  contest  would  assume  a  very  serious  form. 

About  the  middle  of  May  there  were  two  announcements  made, 
which  showed  well  for  the  country's  prosperity ;  the  troops  were  to 
be  finally  withdrawn  from  the  Soudan,  thus  doing  away  with  that 
source  of  expense ;  and  the  two  governments  had  agreed  as  to  the 
Afghan  boundary. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  vote  upon  the  Civil  Service  and  Revenue 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  413 

Departments'  Estimate,  Lord  Randolph  Churchill  and  some  others 
having  indulged  in  frequent  interruptions  of  Mr.  Gladstone's 
speech,  the  venerable  statesman  uttered  one  of  the  most  touching 
rebukes  which  the  House  of  Commons  has  ever  heard.  It  was  not 
that  he  complained  for  one  whose  term  of  membership  in  that 
House  might  be  numbered  by  days,  he  said,  and  must  certainly  be 
bounded  by  months  rather  than  by  years,  but  for  the  sake  of  the 
dignity  of  the  House,  he  protested  against  these  frequent  and  un- 
called-for interruptions.  The  rebuke  seems  to  have  had  its  desired 
effect. 

The  budget  came  up  for  final  discussion  June  7th.  The  House 
seemed  half  asleep.  It  looked  as  if  there  was  nothing  which  could 
rouse  the  members  on  either  side  to  the  height  of  cheering ;  and  Sir 
Michael  Hicks-Beach  spoke  unaided  by  signs  of  sympathy  from 
the  Conservatives,  uninterrupted  by  dissenting  voices  on  the  Lib- 
eral side.  Nobody  seemed  to  care  whether  he  spoke  or  not,  and 
even  Mr.  Warton,  who  nearly  always  caused  the  House  to  unbend 
to  merriment,  found  the  members  unresponsive.  There  was  no  ex- 
citement in  the  lobbies ;  there  was  no  interest  anywhere. 

It  was  after  midnight  when  Mr.  Childers  concluded  his  speech, 
and  Mr.  Gladstone  rose  to  close  the  debate.  His  appearance  was 
not  promising;  for  some  time  past  he  had  been  accustomed  to  leave 
the  House  before  this  hour,  and  he  looked  thoroughly  tired  out. 
His  voice  was  feeble,  and  his  manner  deprecatory ;  the  House  pre- 
pared to  doze  again. 

But  suddenly  he  burst  into  brilliancy.  The  speech  which  began 
thus  unpromisingly  was  the  brightest  and  most  vivacious  that  had 
been  heard  from  his  lips  for  many  a  day.  There  were  not  wanting 
those  who  said  that  it  was  the  best  speech  he  had  ever  deliv- 
ered ;  but  this  was  perhaps  an  exaggeration,  due  to  the  immense 
difference  between  this  and  the  previous  efforts  of  the  night.  He 
seemed  to  court  the  interruption  which  he  had  rebuked  a  short 
time  before;  it  only  afforded  opportunities  for  him  to  retaliate  upon 
his  enemies. 

He  was  especially  strong  in  his  attacks  upon  Lord  Randolph 
Churchill,  and  one  of  his  happiest  hits  was  in  speaking  of  the  Op- 
position which  "  calls  itself  sometimes  Conservative  and  sometimes 
the  Tory  Democracy ; "  in  reply  to  which  Lord  Randolph  took  off 


414  The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry. 

his  hat  with  a  bow  in  ironical  acknpwledgment.  "  To  sum  up, 
Mr.  Gladstone  thoroughly  enjoyed  himself,  and  the  House  thor- 
oughly enjoyed  Mr.  Gladstone."  The  great  speech  ended  amid  the 
vehement  cheers  of  the  Ministry,  and  the  division  was  taken. 
There  was  no  hope  among  the  Tories  ;  the  only  question  was,  what 
would  be  the  Government's  majority?  And  this  did  not  excite 
any  special  interest. 

The  suspicion  of  the  real  state  of  affairs  did  not  begin  to  dawn 
upon  the  Opposition  until  the  division  was  approaching  its  end. 
Then,  as  they  saw  that  the  stream  of  men  going  into  the  Conser- 
vative lobby  was  as  full  as  ever,  that  going  into  the  other  was  per- 
ceptibly diminishing.  Then  began  the  excitement  of  the  night,  or 
rather  morning,  "  What's  your  number  ?  "  was  eagerly  demanded 
of  each  Conservative  as  he  returned  to  the  House,  by  a  score  of  his 
eager  comrades.  At  last  the  teller  for  the  Government  was  seen 
approaching  the  table,  and  there  was  an  intense  stillness  until  they 
had  heard  the  number — two  hundred  and  fifty-two.  Had  the  Con- 
servatives beaten  this  ?  It  was  soon  known  that  they  had,  and 
then  began  the  uproar. 

The  most  vehement  was  of  course  Lord  Randolph  Churchill. 
He  was  like  a  schoolboy  whose  club  has  beaten  in  a  great  match. 
He  waved  his  hat  at  arm's  length,  then  got  upon  his  seat  and 
waved  it  over  the  heads  of  the  excited  assemblage,  There  were 
others  to  follow  his  example,  and  they  cheered  until  they  were 
hoarse.  The  Ministry  answered  by  defiant  counter-cheers,  and  the 
Parnellites  took  up  the  cry.  "  Coercion  ! "  "  Buckshot ! "  "  Spen- 
cer ! "  they  shouted,  forgetful  of  all  that  had  been  done  for  them 
by  this  Government. 

There  were  but  two  men  in  the  House  who  were  entirely  silent. 
One  of  these  sat  among  his  handful  of  followers,  a  happy  smile 
upon  his  pale  face,  but  his  habitual  self-control  strong  now  as  ever ; 
he  was  Charles  Stuart  Parnell.  The  other  sat  with  his  portfolio 
on  his  knees,  writing  as  composedly  as  the  reporters  in  the  gallery 
above  the  account  of  the  fall  of  his  Ministry. 

At  last  the  numbers  were  told,  and  the  House  was  reduced  to 
some  sort  of  order.  Then  the  man  who  had  been  thus  coolly  writ- 
ing arose.  There  was  a  burst  of  enthusiastic  cheers  from  his  fol- 
lowers, answered  by  loud  shouts  of  triumph  from  the  other  side. 


The  Second  Gladstone  Ministry.  415 

For  a  moment  it  seemed  as  if  he  would  not  be  heard  at  all ;  but  he 
stood  calmly  waiting  for  quiet,  now  and  then  dotting  an  i  or  cross- 
ing a  t  in  his  dispatch.  At  last  he  made  his  voice  heard ;  he 
simply  moved  an  adjournment. 

The  House  began  to  empty  at  once.  The  Conservatives  went 
home  to  dream  of  the  success  which  they  had  so  unexpectedly 
achieved ;  the  Liberals  to  brood  over  their  equally  unexpected 
defeat.  It  seems  strange  that  a  Government  whose  fall  had  been 
predicted  so  many  times  should  at  last  succumb  when  it  was 
thought  to  be  strong ;  after  tottering  so  many  times  from  its  incep- 
tion, its  final  fall  was  a  surprise  to  all. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THIRD  AND  FOURTH  ADMINISTRATIONS. 

Mr.  Gladstone  Again  in  Scotland — Lord  Salisbury  on  Public  Questions — Besult 
of  the  Elections — Third  Gladstone  Ministry — Advocates  Giving  Ireland 
the  Eight  to  Make  Her  Own  Laws — Irish  Land  Purchase  Bill — Second 
Beading  of  Irish  Home  Eule  Bill— Eloquent  Appeal  on  Behalf  of  Ireland 
— Irish  Bills  Condemned  by  John  Bright — Rupture  Between  the  Two 
Great  Leaders — General  Election  of  1886 — Defeat  of  the  Liberals — Policy 
of  Coercion — Action  of  the  Tory  Government — The  Premier's  Retirement 
— Lord  Rosebery  Successor  to  Mr.  Gladstone. 

^^^  HE  first  general  election  under  the  new  Reform  Act  was  held 
Q)  I  !$  in  November,  1885.  Mr.  Gladstone  again  appeared  before 
his  Midlothian  constituents,  and,  although  nearly  seventy- 
six  years  of  age,  spoke  with  an  energy  and  force  far  beyond  all  his 
contemporaries.  By  his  attitude  on  the  Disestablishment  question 
he  drew  back  many  wavering  Scotch  votes.  Discussing  the  Irish 
question  at  Edinburg,  he  said  that,  so  long  as  we  dealt  liberally, 
equitably,  and  prudently  with  Ireland,  this  country  had  nothing  to 
fear  from  any  change ;  but  whatever  demands  were  entertained  must 
be  subject  to  the  condition  that  the  unity  of  the  empire,  and  all  the 
powers  of  the  Imperial  Parliament  for  maintaining  that  authority, 
must  be  preserved. 

In  a  second  address  he  affirmed  his  conviction  that  the  day  had 
not  come  when  the  disestablishment  of  the  church  should  be  made 
a  test  question.  Land  reform,  local  government,  parliamentary 
procedure,  and  the  imperial  relations  between  Ireland  and  England 
were  questions  pressing  for  settlement  by  the  next  Parliament,  and 
every  sensible  man  would  admit  that  it  was  right  to  direct  attention 
to  them  rather  than  to  a  matter  impossible  of  immediate  solution. 

In  a  speech  at  West  Calder,  Mr.  Gladstone  approved  Lord  Salis- 
bury's action  with  regard  to  Servia,  complained  of  the  ministerial 
condemnation  of  Lord  Ripon's  Indian  administration,  ridiculed  the 
idea  of  benefit  resulting  from  a  royal  commission  on  trade  depres- 
sion, warned  the  electors  against  remedies  which  were  really  worse 
than  the  disease,  and  defended  free  trade  principles.  He  further 
416 


417 


418  Third  and  Fourth  Administrations. 

advocated   comprehensive   land   reforms,  including  free  transfei> 
facility  of  registration,  and  the  uprooting  of  mortmain. 

Again  speaking  at  Edinburgh,  he  vindicated  the  policy  of  the 
late  Government  in  the  Transvaal,  and,  alluding  to  Mr.  Parnell's 
manifesto  directing  that  a  solid  Irish  vote  should  be  cast  for  the 
Tories  at  the  impending  elections,  he  said  that  the  Liberal  party 
would  continue  to  act  in  the  same  friendly  and  generous  spirit 
towards  Ireland  as  it  had  shown  during  the  last  fifty  years  unde- 
terred by  the  threats  or  opprobrious  language  of  Mr.  Parnell. 

The  elections  resulted  in  the  return  of  333  Liberals,  249  Con- 
servatives, 86  Parnellites,  and  2  Independents.  The  Liberals  thus 
secured  a  substantial  triumph  ;  but  one  of  the  most  gratifying  fea- 
tures of  the  electoral  contest  was  the  return  of  Mr.  Gladstone  for 
Midlothian  by  an  overwhelming  majority. 

The  parliamentary  session  of  1886  had  scarcely  opened  before 
the  Salisbury  Government  was  defeated  upon  an  amendment  t<i 
the  Address,  moved  by  Mr.  Jesse  Collings,  affirming  the  necessity 
for  affording  facilities  to  agricultural  laborers  to  obtain  allotments 
and  small  holdings.  Several  influential  Liberals  opposed  the 
amendment,  but  Mr.  Gladstone  warmly  supported  it,  as  a  recog- 
nition of  the  agricultural  laborer's  position,  and  of  the  mischiefs 
arising  from  the  divorce  of  so  large  a  portion  of  the  population 
from  the  land.  The  Irish  members  coalesced  with  the  Liberals, 
and  the  Government  was  placed  in  a  minority  of  79.  Lord  Salis- 
bury immediately  resigned. 

Mr.  Gladstone  was  sent  for  by  the  Queen,  and  succeeded  in 
forming  his  third  Ministry,  February,  1886.  The  new  Premier 
was  faced  by  unusual  difficulties;  but  after  anxious  thought  he 
had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  no  longer  possible  to  deal 
with  the  Irish  difficulty  upon  the  old  stereotyped  lines.  He  was 
resolved  to  treat  this  all-absorbing  question  upon  large  and  gener- 
ous principles.  Accordingly  on  the  8th  of  April,  in  a  House 
densely  crowded  and  profoundly  interested,  the  Prime  Minister 
brought  forward  his  Bill  to  amend  the  provisions  for  the  future 
government  of  Ireland — in  effect,  a  measure  for  granting  Home 
Rule  to  the  Irish  people ;  but  with  certain  Imperial  reservations 
and  safeguards. 

Mr.  Gladstone  traced  the  history  of  the  Irish  question,  and  ex- 


Third  and  Fourth  Administrations. 


419 


pressed  his  conviction  that  the  time  had  come  for  granting  to  Ire- 
land that  which  she  had  long  been  loudly  demanding — the  right  to 
make  her  own  laws.  The  bill,  however,  was  not  only  opposed  by 
the  Conservatives,  but  by  Lord  Hartington,  Mr.  Chamberlain,  and 
other  Liberal  dissentients,  who  were  subsequently  known  as  Liberal 
Unionists,  in  contradistinction  to  the  Gladstonian  Liberals,  who 


Hon.  Joseph  M.  Chamberlain. 

continued  to  form  the  great  bulk  of  the  Liberal  party,  and  who 
are  still  in  fact  the  Liberal  party. 

The  Bill  having  been  read  a  first  time,  on  the  16th  of  April 
Mr.  Gladstone  supplemented  it  by  introducing  the  Irish  Land  Pur- 
chase Bill,  which  was  intended  to  come  into  operation  on  the  same 
day  as  the  Home  Rule  Bill.  The  object  of  the  measure  was  to 
giv«  to  all  Irish  landowners  the  option  of  being  bought  out  on  the 
terms  of  the  Act ;  to  give  all  Irish  landowners  an  opening  towards 
the  exercise  of  that  option  where  the  rent  was  from  agricultural 


420 


Third  and  Fourth  Administrations. 


land.  But  it  did  not  pretend  to  deal  with  mansions,  demesnes,  and 
woods.  The  State  authority  was  to  be  the  purchaser,  and  the 
occupier  was  to  become  the  proprietor.  In  certain  congested  dis- 
tricts, however,  the  State  authority  would  also  be  the  proprietor. 

The  Premier  proposed  to  fix  the  nominal  purchase-price  at 
twenty  years'  purchase  of  the  net  rental,  ascertained  by  deducting 
law  charges,  bad  debts,  and  cost  of  management  from  the  judicial 

rent.  Where  there 
was  no  judicial  ren- 
tal, the  Land  Court 
could,  if  it  chose, 
make  use  of  Griffith's 
valuation  for  coming 
to  a  fair  decision.  To 
meet  the  demand  for 
the  means  of  pur- 
chase thus  estab- 
lished, Mr.  Gladstone 
proposed  to  create 
£50,000,000  Three 
per  Cents.  The  re- 
payment of  advances 
would  be  secured  by 
a  Receiver -general, 
appointed  by  and 
acting  under  British 
authority. 

The  Land  Purchase 
Bill  was  also  opposed,  and  it  was  the  final  cause  which  led  to  Mr. 
Chamberlain's  retirement  from  the  Government.  The  Land  scheme 
was  not  destined  to  make  progress,  in  consequence  of  the  defeat 
of  the  Home  Rule  Bill.  The  country  speedily  became  agitated  on 
the  subject  of  the  latter  measure,  which  was  energetically  supported 
by  Mr.  John  Morley  at  Glasgow,  and  by  Mr.  Gladstone  in  a  letter 
addressed  to  his  Midlothian  constituents. 

The  second  reading  of  the  Irish  Home  Rule  Bill  was  taken  on 
May  10th,  when  the  Premier  replied  to  the  criticisms  of  his  oppo- 
nents, and  denied  that  he  had  ever,  at  any  period  of  his  life, 

\ 


Hon.  John  Morley. 


Third  and  Fourth  Administrations.  421 

declared  Home  Rule  in  Ireland  to  be  incompatible  with  Imperial 
unity.  He  now  accepted  it  as  a  remedy  imperatively  necessary  for 
the  repression  of  social  disorder,  and  pointed  out  that  while  the 
policy  of  the  Opposition  was  coercion,  that  of  the  Government  was 
autonomy.  "  We  have  before  us,"  he  said,  "  a  great  opportunity  of 
putting  an  end  to  the  controversy  of  seven  hundred  years,  ay,  and 
of  knitting  together,  by  bonds  firmer  and  higher  in  their  character 
than  those  which  heretofore  we  have  mainly  used,  the  hearts  and 
affections  of  this  people,  and  the  noble  fabric  of  the  British  Empire." 

The  debate  extended  over  many  nights;  and  while  it  was 
in  progress,  a  Bill  directed  against  the  carrying  of  arms  in 
Ireland  was  introduced,  and  pushed  forward  rapidly  through 
both  Houses  until  it  became  law. 

The  position  of  Ministers  on  the  Home  Rule  and  Land  Bills 
was  explained  by  Mr.  Gladstone  at  a  meeting  of  Liberals,  held  at 
the  Foreign  Office  on  the  27th  of  May.  The  Premier  stated  that 
the  Government  at  present  only  asked  for  an  endorsement  of 
the  leading  principles  of  the  two  measures;  and  in  afterwards 
closing  the  debate  on  the  second  reading  of  the  Home  Rule 
Bill  in  the  House  of  Commons,  he  made  an  eloquent  appeal 
on  behalf  of  Ireland.  The  division,  nevertheless,  left  the  Govern- 
ment in  a  minority  of  30,  the  numbers  being — for  the  meas- 
ure, 313;  against,  343.  It  was  found  that  93  Liberals  had 
voted  in  the  majority. 

Mr.  Gladstone  now  appealed  to  the  country  on  his  Irish 
policy,  and  on  the  14th  of  June  issued  his  address  to  the  electors  of 
Midlothian.  He  stated  that  the  ministerial  plan  gave  to  Ireland, 
under  well  considered  conditions,  power  to  transact  her  own 
affairs.  This  would  secure  a  real  union,  and  not  a  mere  paper 
union,  between  the  two  countries.  The  Premier  followed  up 
his  address  by  a  visit  to  Midlothian  and  likewise  to  Glas- 
gow, where  he  delivered  powerful  speeches  in  favor  of  the 
Government  policy. 

On  the  25th  of  June  he  appeared  at  Manchester,  and  was 
the  subject  of  a  magnificent  and  enthusiastic  reception  at  the 
Free  Trade  Hall.  With  unusual  force  and  eloquence  he  in- 
sisted that  while  Irish  nationality  might  be  enlisted  in  the 
service  of  law  and  order  with  infinite  advantage,  yet  if  Eng- 


422  Third  and  Fourth  Administrations. 

land  made  it  an  enemy,  it  would  teach  her  by  sorrowful  and 
painful  lessons,  that  its  claims  could  not  be  resisted  with  im- 
punity. Passing  on  to  Liverpool,  he  here  also  pleaded  the 
Irish  cause,  and  called  upon  the  people  to  "ring  out  the  old, 
ring  in  the  new." 

Mr.  Bright  who  had  separated  from  his  old  colleague  and 
leader  on  the  Irish  question,  addressed  his  constituents  at  Birming- 
ham, condemning  the  Home  Rule  and  Land  Purchase  Bills, 
and  making  some  observations  which  Mr.  Gladstone  felt  called 
upon  to  challenge.  In  a  letter  addressed  to  Mr.  Bright,  the 
Premier  denied  having  successfully  concealed  his  thoughts  on 
the  Irish  question  in  the  previous  November,  seeing  that  he 
had  expressly  stated  that  if  the  Irish  elections  went  as  was 
expected,  the  magnitude  of  the  Irish  question  would  put  all 
others  into  the  shade.  Mr.  Gladstone  also  pointed  out  that 
the  position  in  Ireland  had  wholly  changed  from  what  it  was 
in  1881,  when  there  was  a  conspiracy  for  marching  through 
rapine  to  (he  disintegration  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

The  right  honorable  gentleman  also  denied  that  he  had  en- 
deavored to  thrust  the  details  of  the  Land  Purchase  Bill  upon  his 
colleagues  and  upon  the  House  of  Commons.  "  If  I  am  a 
man  capable  of  such  an  intention,  I  wonder  you  ever  took  office 
with  one  so  ignorant  of  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution  and  so 
arbitrary  in  its  character.  Though  this  appears  to  be  your 
opinion  of  me,  I  do  not  think  it  is  the  opinion  held  by  my 
countrymen  in  general.  You  quote  not  a  word  in  support  of  your 
charge.  It  is  absolutely  untrue."  Mr.  Bright  replied,  remarking 
that  the  liberal  leader  had  asked  the  constituencies  to  send  him  a 
majority  large  enough  to  make  him  independent  of  Mr.  Parnell 
and  his  party,  and  yet  he  had  since  completely  surrendered  to  Mr. 
Parnell. 

Mr.  Bright's  letter  was  not  a  satisfactory  answer  to  the  various 
points  urged  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  but  the  member  for  Central  Bir- 
mingham added,  "Though  I  thus  differ  from  you  at  this  time  and 
on  this  question,  do  not  imagine  that  I  ever  cease  to  admire  your 
great  qualities,  or  to  value  the  great  services  you  have  rendered  to 
your  country." 

A  correspondence  between  Mr.  Gladstone  and  Mr.  A.  J.  Bal- 


Third  and  Fourth  Administrations. 


423 


four,  published  in  July,  demonstrated  that  the  former  had  urged 
upon  Lord  Salisbury  the  absolute  necessity  of  dealing  immediately 
with  the  Irish  question,  and  expressed  a  strong  hope  that  the  sub- 
ject should  not  fall  into  the  lines  of  party  conflict. 

The  general  election  of  July,  1886,  was  fought  out  under  cir- 
cumstances of  great  excitement,  and  much  misrepresentation  of  the 
Liberal  position  on  the  part  of  Conservative  and  Liberal  Unionist 
candidates.  The  Liberals  were  defeated,  and  the  new  House  of 


Casket  Presented  to  Mr.  Gladstone  by  his  Liverpool  Constituents. 

Commons  was  composed  as  follows:  Conservatives,  316;  Lib- 
eral Unionists,  78;  Gladstonian  Liberals,  191 ;  and  Irish  Home 
Rulers,  85. 

With  such  a  decided  majority  against  him,  Mr.  Gladstone 
resigned  office,  and  Lord  Salisbury  again  became  Prime  Minister. 
Mr.  Gladstone  congratulated  the  Government  on  not  announcing  a 
policy  of  Coercion  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  said  that  with 
every  admission  that  Coercion  would  not  be  applied  again,  he 
believed  Home  Rule  came  nearer  and  nearer.  Until  law  was 
administered  in  Ireland  in  an  Irish  spirit,  there  would  be  no 
security  for  social  order  in  the  sister  country. 


424  Third  and  Fourth  Administrations. 

Mr.  Gladstone  left  England  for  a  tour  in  Bavaria  in  the  autumn, 
but  before  doing  so  he  issued  a  pamphlet  on  the  Irish  question, 
divided  into  two  parts  :  I.  History  of  an  Idea ;  and,  II.  Lessons 
of  the  Elections.  In  the  former  section  he  traced  the  several 
stages  by  which  the  great  question  of  autonomy  for  Ireland  had 
been  brought  to  a  state  of  ripeness  for  practical  legislation ;  and  in 
the  second  part  showed  that,  of  the  four  nationalities  in  the  United 
Kingdom,  Scotland  approved  his  Irish  policy  by  three  to  two,  Ire- 
land by  four  and  a  half  to  one,  and  "  gallant  Wales  "  by  five  to 
one  ;  whilst  England  decided  against  Ireland  by  returning  336  op- 
ponents to  129  supporters. 

In  October  Mr.  Gladstone  received  five  deputations  at  Hawarden. 
One  of  them  presented  an  address  from  400,000  women  of  Ireland, 
while  the  other  four  conveyed  to  him  the  freedom  of  four  Irish 
cities — Cork,  Limerick,  Waterford,  and  Clonmel.  The  Liberal 
leader  expressed  his  conviction  of  the  success  of  Home  Rule,  and 
denied  that  Ireland  wished  for  separation. 

Much  to  the  surprise  of  the  Liberal  party,  the  Tory  Government 
introduced  a  Crimes  Prevention  (Ireland)  Bill  of  exceptional 
severity  in  the  session  of  1887.  It  had  been  understood  that  there 
was  to  be  no  Coercion,  and  many  Conservative  members  were 
returned  on  this  clear  understanding.  Moreover,  Ireland  was  far 
freer  from  ordinary  crime  than  England.  The  Bill  was  obviously 
drawn  to  suppress  the  free  expression  of  political  opinion  in 
Ireland,  and  to  destroy  the  influence  of  the  National  League. 

Mr.  Gladstone  and  the  great  bulk  of  the  Liberal  party  strongly 
opposed  this  arbitrary  and  unnecessary  measure,  but  it  was  carried 
by  the  aid  of  Liberal  Dissentient  votes.  The  Act  was  applied  with 
great  stringency  during  the  recess,  and  Mr.  O'Brien  and  other  Irish 
members  were  thrown  into  prison,  but  the  Coercion  Act  entirely 
failed  to  achieve  its  leading  object,  namely,  the  suppression  of 
the  Land  League. 

Irish  debates  were  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the  House  of 
Commons  in  1888,  but  the  session  was  chiefly  signalized  by  the 
passing  of  the  Local  Government  Act,  a  measure  of  a  democratic 
character,  establishing  County  Councils  throughout  the  kingdom  ; 
and  by  the  appointment  of  a  Commission,  consisting  of  three 
judges,  to  try  the  Times'  charges  against  Mr.  Parnell  and  various 


Third  and  Fourth  Administrations.  425 

other  persons.  The  Commission  sat  for  upwards  of  fifty  days, 
and  then  passed  through  a  series  of  sensational  and  startling 
episodes.  The  letters  alleged  to  have  been  written  by  Mr.  Parnell 
implicating  him  in  assassination  and  crime  were  confessed  to  be 
forgeries  by  an  Irish  witness  named  Richard  Pigott,  and  the  Times 
abandoned  the  charges  founded  upon  the  letters  and  made  an 
apology  to  the  Irish  leader. 

In  November,  1888,  Mr.  Gladstone  paid  a  memorable  visit  to 
Birmingham.  On  the  5th  he  appeared  at  the  Town  Hall,  which 
was  crowded  to  excess.  Replying  to  an  address  from  the  Birming- 
ham Liberal  Association,  he  first  paid  a  touching  tribute  to  John 
Bright,  expressing  a  fervent  wish  for  his  restoration  to  health,  and 
then  went  on  to  condemn  the  administration  of  the  Coercion  Act, 
dealing  also  with  other  public  questions.  Next  day  he  received  a 
deputation  from  Walsall,  assuring  them  that  the  Liberal  Unionists 
were  visibly  approaching  their  doom.  It  was  a  question  between 
doing  justice  to  Ireland  on  the  one  hand  in  conjunction  with  the 
Liberal  party  at  large,  and  on  the  other  of  swallowing  Toryism 
bodily  and  wholly. 

In  the  schoolroom  attached  to  the  Church  of  the  Redeemer, 
Edgbaston,  Mr.  Gladstone  received  a  number  of  handsome  pres- 
ents from  the  workingmen  of  Birmingham.  He  afterwards  visited 
the  Council  House  and  Art  Gallery,  and  attended  the  Mayor's 
reception  in  the  evening  On  the  following  morning  he  accom- 
panied Mrs.  Gladstone  to  Ashfield  House,  where  a  medallion  cameo 
portrait  of  the  ex-premier  was  presented  to  Mrs.  Gladstone  by  the 
Liberal  ladies  of  Birmingham. 

On  the  evening  of  the  7th  a  great  demonstration  was  held  in  the 
Bingley  Hall,  a  building  which  in  its  normal  state  is  capable  of 
holding  about  20,000  people,  but  which  for  this  occasion  was  made 
to  hold  many  more.  The  meeting  was  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic 
and  remarkable  in  the  annals  of  the  Liberal  party,  upwards  of  one 
hundred  members  of  Parliament  and  many  other  influential  per- 
sons supporting  the  ex-Premier  on  the  platform.  The  chaii 
was  taken  by  Mr.  Osier,  President  of  the  Birmingham  Liberal 
Association. 

When  Mr.  Gladstone  rose  to  speak  an  unparalleled  scene  of  enthu- 
siasm occurred.  He  was  kept  standing  for  some  minutes,  while 


426  Third  and  Fourth  Administrations. 

volleys  of  cheering  rang  through  the  hall,  and  handkerchiefs  were 
waved  by  the  ladies.  When  quiet  was  at  length  restored,  Mr. 
Gladstone  at  once  plunged  into  the  subject  of  Ireland.  He 
impeached  the  Government  as  a  government  of  unequal  law,  as  a 
lawless  government,  a  government  whose  policy  and  operations  the 
Irish  people  had  a  right  to  resent.  The  right  of  combination, 
given  in  England,  was  withheld  in  Ireland ;  and  the  right  of  public- 
meeting  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Lord-Lieutenant,  whose  will  was 
executed  and  confirmed  by  magistrates  removable  at  the  will  of  the 
Executive.  Irish  members  were  tried  for  offences  far  less  serious 
than  sedition,  and  treated  as  common  felons.  He  believed  that  the 
world  generally  looked  upon  our  treatment  of  Ireland  as  dishonor- 
able to  England. 

Mr.  Gladstone  forcibly  said — "  You  are  invited  to  maintain  this 
system — and  why?  Is  it  economical?  The  waste  of  Imperial 
treasure  under  this  system  is  enormous.  I  ought  to  know  some- 
thing of  the  finances  of  the  country,  and  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say 
that  to  place  the  waste  of  the  present  system  of  governing  Ireland 
at  from  three  to  four  millions  a  year  of  hard  money,  is  but  a 
moderate  estimate  of  the  facts.  This  waste  to  produce  what?  Not 
to  produce  content,  but  to  produce  discontent.  Does  it  produce 
Imperial  strength  ?  Suppose  we  were  involved  in  great  difficulties, 
suppose  we  had — God  forbid  that  we  should  have — a  crisis  like  the 
original  American  war  brought  upon  us.  At  this  time  would  Ireland 
add  to  our  strength  what  she  ought  to  add  ?  No.  We  have  now 
got  Ireland  making  a  thoroughly  constitutional  demand — demand- 
ing what  is  in  her  own  language  a  subordinate  Parliament,  acknowl- 
edging in  the  fullest  terms  the  supremacy  of  the  Parliament  at 
Westminster.  How  can  you  know  that  under  all  circumstances 
that  moderation  of  demand  will  continue  ?  " 

Another  scene  of  intense  enthusiasm  was  witnessed  when  the 
ex-Premier  resumed  his  seat,  after  having  spoken  with  great  energy 
and  clearness  of  enunciation  for  a  hour  and  fifty  minutes.  On  the 
8th  Mr.  Gladstone  received  a  deputation  and  an  address  from  the 
Irish  Nationalists  of  Birmingham  and  district.  He  subsequently 
planted  a  tree  in  Sir  Walter  Foster's  garden,  and  then  left  for  West 
Bromwich  on  a  visit  to  the  Hon.  P.  Stanhope.  Replying  to  a 
number  of  addresses  presented  to  him  at  West  Bromwich,  he  said 


Third  and  Fourth  Administrations.  427 

the  balance  at  the  last  election  was  cast  not  by  the  true  sense  of 
the  population  considered  individually  as  men,  but  by  plural  votes 
given  by  owners  of  property,  who  had  already  enjoyed  occupation 
votes. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  prediction  that  the  policy  of  Home  Rule  would 
make  rapid  progress  was  abundantly  justified  by  the  course  of 
events.  A  number  of  Liberal  dissentients,  like  Sir  George  Tevelyan, 
who  had  promised  to  support  Home  Rule  if  certain  Imperial  guar- 
antees were  conceded,  returned  to  the  Liberal  fold  on  receiving  Mr. 
Gladstone's  assurances ;  but  Mr.  Chamberlain,  who  had  also  asked 
for  these  safeguards,  instead  of  accepting  them  as  he  agreed  to  do, 
attacked  his  old  leader  and  his  plans  with  a  rancor  and  hostility 
which  lost  him  the  esteem  of  all  true  Liberals.  Wherever  the 
country  had  an  opportunity  of  declaring  itself  on  the  burning 
question  of  the  day — from  Southampton  in  the  extreme  south  to 
Govan  and  East  Perthshire  in  the  north — it  pronounced  an  over- 
whelming verdict  in  favor  of  Home  Rule,  and  in  condemnation  of 
the  policy  of  Lord  Salisbury's  Government. 

In  December  Mr.  Gladstone  went  to  Italy  for  the  benefit  of  his 
health,  making  his  headquarters  at  Naples.  He  was  warmly 
greeted  by  the  Italian  people,  gratitude  mingling  with  their  enthu- 
siasm for  the  important  services  which  the  English  statesman  had 
rendered  in  the  past  to  the  cause  of  Italian  freedom  and  unity. 
After  a  sojourn  of  two  months  in  the  south  of  Europe  he  returned 
to  England  much  refreshed  and  invigorated,  and  ready  to  take  part 
in  the  labors  of  a  session  which  promised  to  be  unusually  animated 
and  eventful. 

On  August  4,  1892,  Mr.  Gladstone,  in  his  eighty-third  year, 
began  the  administration  that  most  statesmen  twenty  years  his 
junior  would  have  hesitated  to  undertake. 

He  was  not  destined,  however,  to  witness  the  triumph  of  his 
ambition  to  confer  home  rule  upon  Ireland.  His  intellectual  vigor 
continued  unabated,  and  on  October  24,  1892,  he  delivered  the  first 
of  the  Romanes  lectures  at  Oxford,  his  subject  being  "  Mediaeval 
Universities,"  and  his  welcome  at  his  old  university  was  enthu- 
siastic. He  was  presented  with  the  freedom  of  the  city  of  Liverpool 
on  December  30th,  shortly  after  paying  a  visit  to  Biarritz,  where  his 
eighty-third  year  was  spent.  On  April  6th  of  the  following  year 


Lord  Rosebery — Gladstone's  Su 


428 


Third  and  Fourth  Administrations.  429 

he  moved  the  second  reading  of  the  Home  Rule  bill  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  and  subsequently  superintended  the  progress  of  the 
bill  with  unparalleled  vigor  and  patience. 

During  that  month  a  lunatic  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  upon 
his  life  without  disturbing  his  serenity  or  producing  any  apparent 
effect  upon  his  nervous  system.  He  delivered  a  speech  at  the 
opening  of  the  new  Ha  warden  Institute  on  May  23d  on  "Labor 
Representation."  He  made  a  trip  to  Scotland  in  September  speak- 
ing at  Edinburgh  on  the  relations  between  Lords  and  Commons, 
returning  to  his  place  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  reassem- 
bling of  Paliament.  During  the  winter  recess  he  spent  several 
weeks  with  his  family  and  a  few  close  personal  friends  at  Biarritz, 
the  House  meeting  in  his  absence.  It  was  now  evident  to  his 
closest  friends  that  his  great  work  as  a  statesman  was  nearly  done. 

The  Pall  Mall  Gazette,  early  in  1894,  startled  the  English  public 
by  publishing  a  report  that  Mr.  Gladstone  contemplated  retiring 
from  public  life.  The  report  was  contradicted  for  the  time,  and 
Mr.  Gladstone  returned  to  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
Before  the  end  of  February,  however,  he,  in  speaking  to  the  order 
of  the  day,  announced  his  own  retirement  and  resigned  very  shortly 
afterward,  to  be  succeeded  by  Lord  Rosebery.  It  then,  for  the 
first  time,  became  known  to  the  public  that  he  was  losing  both 
sight  and  hearing. 

During  May,  1894,  a  successful  operation  was  performed  upon  his 
right  eye  for  cataract,  but  the  restoration  of  his  sight  did  not  induce 
him  to  again  enter  public  life.  He  shortly  after  resigned  his  seat 
in  Parliament,  and  engaged  in  the  formation  of  a  library  to  be 
bequeathed  to  the  public  and  in  important  literary  work,  including 
a  poetical  translation  of  the  Odes  of  Horace.  He  continued  to 
write  and  lecture  in  defense  of  the  Christian  religion  until  near  the 
close  of  his  remarkable  life,  and  what  was  probably  more  convin- 
cing and  important — lived  the  faith  he  professed. 

His  chief  public  utterances  on  political  subjects  after  his  retire- 
ment from  public  life  consisted  of  trenchant  criticisms  upon  the 
Salisbury  Government  for  its  course  in  abandoning  the  Armenian 
Christians  to  Turkish  massacre  and  spoliation.  His  closing  years 
were  spent  in  such  domestic  enjoyment  as  the  infirmities  of  his 
advanced  age  rendered  possible. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

PERSONAL  CHARACTERISTICS,  DOMESTIC  RELA- 
TIONS, AND  LITERARY  CAREER. 

\  I  "I  URNING  back  to  the  earliest  time  at  which  the  personal 
&  I  ©  appearance  and  manner  of  Mr.  Gladstone  were  of  sufficient 
general  interest  to  warrant  a  description  in  the  journals  of 
the  day,  we  find  him  noticed  in  Mr.  Cornelius  Brown's  "  History  of 
Newark."  At  the  date  of  his  first  election  to  Parliament  he  was 
somewhat  robust  in  appearance,  and  was  considered  a  handsome 
man,  possessing  a  most  intelligent  and  expressive  countenance.  He 
made  friends,  says  one  who  speaks  from  a  personal  recollection  of 
this  contest,  by  his  thoughtful  look  and  attractive  bearing. 

A  portrait  in  oils,  executed  a  few  years  later  for  the  Newark 
Conservative  Club,  was  engraved,  though  but  few  .copies  of  the 
engraving  exist.  At  first  sight,  says  one  who  has  seen  it,  it  is 
hardly  recognizable  as  the  former  appearance  of  the  rugged  face 
with  whose  outlines  we  are  all  familiar ;  the  plump  face  soon 
became  thin  and  furrowed  by  the  cares  of  state,  and  it  is  only  after 
a  closer  look  that  we  recognize  the  somewhat  prominent  nose,  the 
intellectual  forehead,  the  anxious  eyes,  and  the  earnest  expression 
which  even  then  gave  promise  of  his  conscientiousness  in  later 
years. 

It  is  perhaps  significant,  in  this  connection,  that  these  early  de- 
scriptions, especially  those  which  are  drawn  from  the  newspapers 
of  the  time,  invariably  speak  of  Mr.  Gladstone  as  older  than  he 
really  was  at  that  date.  Whether  it  was  his  mental  or  moral  char- 
acteristics that  gave  him  the  appearance  of  a  longer  acquaintance 
with  the  world,  would  require  the  contemporary  testimony  of  an 
eye-witness,  and  this  we  do  ijot  possess. 

Although  Mr.  Gladstone  had  impressed  all  with  whom  he  came 

in  contact  with  the  idea  that  he  was  a  young  man  of  considerable 

ability,  his  later  pre  eminence  was  not  universally  accorded  to  him 

by  the  prophets  of  the  political  world  ;  but  it  can  hardly  be  matter 

430 


Personal  Characteristics.  431 

for  wonder  that  those  observers  who  sneered  at  the  pretensions  of 
young  Disraeli  as  absurd  should  be  mistaken  in  his  great  rival. 
In  the  work,  "  The  British  Senate  in  1 838,"  the  writer,  after  speak- 
ing of  the  great  things  which  Mr.  Gladstone's  party  expects  from 
him,  and  alluding  to  the  successes  with  which  he  had  already  met, 
goes  on  to  say : 

"He  is  a  man  of  very  considerable  talent,  but  has  nothing 
approaching  to  genius.  His  abilities  are  much  more  the  result  of 
an  excellent  education,  and  of  mature  study,  than  of  any  prodigality 
of  nature  in  the  distribution  of  her  mental  gifts.  I  have  no  idea 
that  he  will  ever  acquire  the  reputation  of  a  great  statesman.  His 
views  are  not  sufficiently  profound  or  enlarged  for  that;  his  celeb- 
rity in  the  House  of  Commons  will  chiefly  depend  on  his  readiness 
and  dexterity  as  a  debater,  in  conjunction  with  the  excellence  of 
his  elocution,  and  the  gracefulness  of  his  manner  when  speaking." 

So  much  for  a  general  estimate  of  the  man,  written  at  a  time 
when  he  had  been  long  enough  in  Parliament  to  afford  data  for  a 
reasonably  fair  criticism.  When  the  writer  leaves  prophecy,  and 
devotes  himself  to  description,  he  is  more  interesting : 

"  Mr.  Gladstone's  appearance  and  manner  are  much  in  his  favor. 
He  is  a  fine-looking  man.  He  is  about  the  usual  height,  and  of 
good  figure.  His  countenance  is  mild  and  pleasant,  and  has  a 
highly  intellectual  expression.  His  eyes  are  clear  and  quick.  His 
eyebrows  are  dark  and  rather  prominent.  There  is  not  a  dandy  in 
the  House  but  envies  what  Trtiefit  would  call  his  fine  head  of  jet- 
black  hair.  It  is  always  carefully  parted  from  the  crown  down- 
ward to  his  brow,  where  it  is  tastefully  shaded.  His  features  are 
small  and  regular,  and  his  complexion  must  be  very  unworthy 
witness  if  he  does  not  possess  an  abundant  stock  of  health. 

"  Mr.  Gladstone's  gesture  is  varied,  but  not  violent.  When  he 
rises  he  generally  puts  both  hands  behind  his  back,  and  having 
there  suffered  them  to  embrace  each  other  for  a  short  time,  he  un- 
clasps them,  and  allows  them  to  drop  on  either  side.  They  are  not 
permitted  to  remain  long  in  that  locality  before  you  see  them  again 
closed  together,  and  hanging  down  before  him.  Their  re-union  is 
not  suffered  to  last  for  any  length  of  time.  Again  a  separation 
takes  place,  and  now  the  right  hand  is  seen  moving  up  and  down 
before  him.  Having  thus  exercised  it  a  littK  he  thrusts  it  into  the 


432  Personal  Characteristics. 

pocket  of  his  coat,  and  then  orders  the  left  hand  to  follow  its  exam- 
ple. Having  granted  them  a  momentary  repose  there,  they  are 
again  put  into  gentle  motion,  and  in  a  few  seconds  they  are  seen 
reposing  vis-a-vis  on  his  breast.  He  moves  his  face  and  body  from 
one  direction  to  another,  not  forgetting  to  bestow  a  liberal  share  of 
attention  upon  his  own  party. 

"  He  is  always  listened  to  with  much  attention  by  the  House,  and 
appears  to  be  highly  respected  by  men  of  all  parties.  He  is  a  man 
of  good  business  habits;  of  this  he  furnished  abundant  proof  when 
Under-Secretary  for  the  Colonies,  during  the  short-lived  adminis- 
tration of  Sir  Robert  Peel.  .  .  .  His  style  is  polished,  but  has  no 
appearance  of  the  effect  of  previous  preparation. 

"  He  displays  considerable  acuteness  in  replying  to  an  opponent ; 
he  is  quick  in  his  perception  of  anything  vulnerable  in  the  speech 
to  which  he  replies,  and  happy  in  laying  the  weak  point  bare  to 
the  gaze  of  the  House.  He  now  and  then  indulges  in  sarcasm, 
which  is,  in  most  cases,  very  felicitous.  He  is  plausible  even  when 
most  in  error.  When  it  suits  himself  or  his  party,  he  can  apply 
himself  with  the  strictest  closeness  to  the  real  point  at  issue ;  when 
to  evade  the  point  is  deemed  most  politic,  no  man  can  wander  from 
it  more  widely." 

In  the  case  of  an  individual  so  eminent  as  the  "  Grand  Old 
Man,"  it  is  scarcely  an  idle  curiosity  which  delights  in  such  details. 
It  may  fairly  be  claimed  that  the  most  determined  enemy  of  per- 
sonal gossip  might  listen  with  delight  to  those  trifles  which  indicate 
the  character  of  the  man,  and  something  of  the  advantages  which 
he  has  enjoyed,  or  the  disadvantages  which  he  has  conquered.  Of 
the  latter  there  are  few  or  none  that  beset  the  life  of  Mr.  Gladstone, 
outside  of  the  difficulties  which  the  constitution  of  his  own  mind 
placed  in  his  path.  Delaying  the  consideration  of  these  qualities 
and  their  results  for  a  moment,  we  would  point  out  that  the  ges- 
tures, so  fully  described  in  the  above  extract,  are  not  without 
meaning. 

Young  Disraeli,  mocked  and  ridiculed  as  he  was  by  the  House 
of  Commons  during  the  very  time  that  Gladstone  was  winning 
such  golden  opinions,  would  never  have  changed  the  position  of 
his  hands  so  frequently  during  the  course  of  a  speech.  These  are 
the  movements  t\f  a  man  whose  earnestness  is  so  great  that  it 


Personal  Characteristics.  433 

makes  him  distrustful  of  his  own  powers;  who  feels  that  the  bur- 
den of  care  may  weight  him  to  the  ground ;  they  are  the  move- 
ments of  a  man  capable  of  changing  his  course  when  his  opinions 
have  changed,  regardless  of  the  sneers  which  his  inconsistency  may 
provoke. 

Out  of  his  very  conscientiousness  arose  this  inconsistency,  as  his 
enemies  are  pleased  to  call  it.  In  his  work,  "  Mr.  Gladstone  :  a 
Study,"  Louis  J.  Jennings  has  taken  some  pains  to  collate  all  the 
unfavorable  criticisms  of  the  eminent  Liberal ;  three  of  these  are 
applicable  to  the  portion  of  the  subject  now  under  consideration. 
We  append  them : 

"His  conscience  is  so  tender,  he  will  never  go  straight."  Rev. 
Augustus  Page  Saunders,in  1832  (later,  the  Dean  of  Peterborough). 

"  I  think  his  intellect  can  persuade  his  conscience  of  anything." 
.Dr.  Lake,  Dean  of  Durham,  in  1860. 

"He  can  persuade  most  people  of  most  things;  but  above  all, 
he  am  persuade  himself  of  anything."  Rt.  Hon.  W.  E.  Forster, 
in  1883. 

This  is  the  testimony  of  his  enemies  ;  for  although  Forster  had 
held  office  under  the  Liberal  Premier,  these  words  were  uttered  in 
a  speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons  after  his  resignation 
from  the  office  of  Irish  Secretary,  while  he  was  smarting  under  the 
sense  of  defeat,  and  the  knowledge  that  his  policy  in  thai  position 
had  been  condemned  by  its  results.  To  these  words  we  add  no 
comment ;  believing  their  recognition  of  his  conscientiousness  as 
of  more  import  than  their  insinuated  criticisms  upon  his  judgment. 
The  one  is  a  fact ;  the  other  is  a  matter  of  opinion. 

We  are  prepared  to  admit,  with  the  author  whose  description  of 
him  in  his  youth  has  already  been  quoted,  that  Mr.  Gladstone  does 
not  possess  the  highest  of  all  attributes,  an  absolutely  informing 
genius.  But  if  not  "  born  for  the  universe,"  he  has  never  narrowed 
his  mind  to  cater  to  the  requirements  of  any  party,  or  any  portion 
of  the  community;  he  has  never  concerned  himself  with  one  de- 
partment of  public  affairs  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others.  This 
has  been  well  put  by  R.  H.  Hutton,  the  author  of  "  Sketches  in 
Parliament : " 

"  He  cares  even  more  than  trades-unions  for  the  welfare  of  the 
workingmen ;  more  than  the  manufacturers  for  the  interests  of 
28 


434  Personal  Characteristics. 

capital ;  more  for  the  cause  of  retrenchment  than  the  most  jealous 
and  avowed  foes  of  government  expenditure ;  more  for  the  spread 
of  national  education  than  the  advocates  of  a  compulsory  national 
education;  more  for  careful  constitutional  precedent  than  the 
Whigs;  and  more  for  the  spiritual  independence  of  the  Church 
than  the  Tories.  He  unites  cotton  with  culture,  Manchester  with 
Oxford,  the  deep  classical  joy  over  the  Italian  resurrection  and 
Greek  independence  with  the  deep  English  interest  on  the  amount 
of  the  duty  on  Zante  raisins  and  Italian  rags.  The  great  rail- 
way boards  and  the  bishops  are  about  equally  interested  in  Mr. 
Gladstone.  Mr.  Gladstone's  mind  mediates  between  the  moral 
and  material  interests  of  the  age  and  rests  in  neither.  He  moralizes 
finance  and  commerce,  and  (if  we  may  be  allowed  the  barbarism) 
institutionalizes  ethics  and  faith." 

Perhaps  it  is  this  very  appreciation  of  all  interests  that  has  led 
to  his  defeat  and  unpopularity  at  times ;  since  the  attention  paid  to 
one  would  often  be  offensive  to  the  other,  each  demanding  all  the 
•aid  which  the  statesman  had  to  give  to  all  interests.  Thus  the  rail- 
way boards  would  he  displeased  when  he  neglected  them  for  church 
matters,  and  the  bishops  would  feel  themselves  aggrieved  when  he 
devoted  himself  to  matters  of  transportation. 

This  union  of  qualities  had  hardly  been  fully  evidenced  at  the 
time  of  which  we  write ;  we  have  anticipated  somewhat  our  analy- 
sis of  his  character.  Let  us  proceed  to  another  topic,  upon  which 
we  have  already  touched. 

In  July,  1839,  Mr.  Gladstone  married  Miss  Catherine  Glynne, 
the  daughter  of  Sir  Stephen  Richard  Glynne,  of  Hawarden  Castle, 
Flintshire.  The  bride  was  not  remarkable  for  her  personal  beauty, 
being  not  very  flatteringly  described  as  a  tall,  long-featured,  sedate 
Englishwoman,  whose  manners  were  shy  to  awkwardness.  The 
same  authority  which  speaks  thus  of  her  personal  appearance  pays 
ample  tribute  to  her  amiability ;  and  the  awkward  shyness  in  the 
presence  of  others  gave  place  in  privacy  to  the  quiet  strength  which 
has  sustained  the  statesman  in  many  an  hour  of  trial.  Her  name 
was  not  unknown,  at  an  early  day,  as  a  practical  philanthropist' 
and  later  on  she  became  something  of  a  power  in  the  political  world  v 
deriving  her  strength  from  her  intellectual  character  and  her  high 
womanly  integrity. 


Personal  Characteristics.  435 

Seven  of  her  eight  children  have  attained  to  years  of  discretion. 
Of  the  four  sons,  two  have  taken  part  in  political  life,  though  they 
are,  of  course,  overshadowed  by  the  greatness  of  the  name  which 
they  bear;  but  they  have  shown  themselves  not  unworthy  of  their 
lather.  One  is  a  man  of  business,  as  his  grandfather  was  ;  and  the 
other  is  the  rector  of  Hawarden.  Two  of  his  daughters  are  mar- 
ried ;  not  wisely,  according  to  the  voice  of  the  world,  which  gauges 
wisdom  in  such  matters  by  the  establishment  which  is  secured  ;  but 
certainly  very  well,  when  the  character  of  their  husbands  is  consid- 
ered. Miss  Helen  Gladstone  has  made  herself  a  name  in  educa- 
tional matters,  and  is  at  the  head  of  a  department  of  Newuham 
College  for  Women. 

We  see  from  this  that  the  home  which  has  become  so  famous, 
belongs  not  to  the  master,  but  to  the  mistress  of  the  household.  Mr. 
Gladstone  inherited  from  his  father  a  considerable  fortune,  but  it 
was  not  in  the  enduring  form  of  real  estate,  and  much  of  it  has 
been  dissipated  by  the  expenses  of  traveling,  and  in  the  gratification 
of  refined  tastes.  There  is  considerable  disparity  in  the  statements 
which  have  been  made  regarding  his  circumstances  in  the  later  years 
of  his  life,  some  writers  appearing  to  think  that  he  was  on  the 
verge  of  genteel  poverty,  while  others  maintained  that  he  was  pos- 
sessed of  a  considerable  income. 

His  removal  from  Carlton  House  Terrace,  and  the  sale  of  his 
collections  of  china  and  articles  of  virtue  have  always  been  regarded 
as  evidences  that  the  man  who  could  take  such  excellent  care  of  the 
nation's  finances  had  sorely  neglected  his  own.  However  this  may 
be,  it  is  certain  that  his  income  has  never  been  permanently  increased 
by  the  princely  salaries  that  he  has  received,  while  there  have  been 
many  and  heavy  drains  upon  it.  There  was  no  expense  spared  in 
the  education  of  his  children,  as  there  was  none  spared  in  his  own, 
and  as  we  have  before  said,  the  family  has  had  every  wish  and 
taste  indulged. 

The  estate  connected  with  Hawarden  Castle  consists  of  about 
seven  thousand  acres,  and  is  supposed  to  yield  an  annual  income  of 
$90,000,  so  that  there  is  no  danger  of  coming  to  real  want.  The 
house  itself  is  a  noble  specimen  of  the  "  stately  homes  of  England." 
It  was  built  in  the  year  1752,  and  its  solid  masonry  may  defy  the 
ravages  of  time  for  centuries  to  come.  The  venerable  trees  sur- 


436  Personal  Characteristics. 

rounding  it  give  beauty  and  grandeur  to  the  scene  without  dwarf- 
ing the  work  of  man.  The  granite  towers  reach  skyward  so  far 
that  they  can  be  seen  above  the  intervening  screen  of  trees  at  Queen's 
Ferry  railroad  station,  a  mile  and  a  half  away. 

Just  across  a  beautiful  ravine,  and  within  the  grounds  of  the 
modern  dwelling,  is  the  ancient  edifice  of  which  this  is  the  suc- 
cessor. Old  Hawarden  Castle  dates  from  the  eleventh  century, 
being  one  of  the  earliest  of  that  army  of  military  posts  which  the 
victorious  Normans  used  as  sentinels  over  the  conquered  land,  and 
within  the  grim  walls  of  which  they  were  equally  ready  for  ban- 
quets and  music  or  for  resistance  to  the  king  and  oppression  of  the 
commons. 

It  is  on  an  elevation  of  ground  so  steep  that  it  is  only  with  some 
difficulty  the  modern  tourist  can  reach  the  base  of  the  building ;  and 
the  military  advantages  of  its  natural  position  have  been  heightened 
by  art.  The  dungeons  have  been  compared  by  an  irreverent  Amer- 
ican newspaper  correspondent  to  an  immense  brick  oven ;  space  does 
not  permit  us  to  give  a  more  dignified  comparison,  or,  indeed,  to  say 
more  upon  the  subject.  Let  the  graphic  art  be  more  eloquent  than 
words. 

It  was  in  this  atmosphere  that  the  career  of  the  great  statesman 
was  planned ;  it  was  in  smoky,  busy  London  that  those  plans  were 
carried  out.  Here  again  we  see  some  of  the  strange  contrasts  which 
environed  the  man,  and  helped  to  shape  the  character. 

Having  thus  dealt  with  the  personal  history  of  his  earlier  life, 
and  described  his  appearance  at  that  period,  we  come  to  a  time  more 
nearly  approaching  the  present.  We  have  quoted  an  extended 
description  of  his  appearance  and  manner  in  1838 ;  let  us  listen  to 
the  comments  of  H.  W.  Lucy  upon  that  very  passage,  premising 
that  Mr.  Lucy  is  one  of  the  best  authorities  upon  Gladstoniana : 

"  It  is  curious  to  note  that  some  of  these  mannerisms  of  forty 
years  ago  [Mr.  Lucy  wrote  in  1878]  are  preserved  by  the  great 
statesman  we  know  to-day.  It  is  particularly  notable  that  to  this 
day,  when  Mr.  Gladstone  rises  and  begins  what  is  intended  to  be  a 
great  oration,  he  has  a  tendency  to  clasp  his  hands  behind  his  back. 
This  attitude,  however,  like  the  subdued  mood  of  which  it  is  the 
indication,  prevails  only  during  the  opening  sentences.  Age  has 
fired  rather  than  dulled  his  oratorical  energy. 


Personal  Characteristics.  437 

"He  has  even,  during  the  existence  of  the  present  Parliament, 
increased  in  rapidity  of  gesture  almost  to  the  point  of  fury.  The 
jet-black  hair  of  forty  years  ago  has  faded  and  fallen,  leaving  only 
a  few  thin  wisps  of  gray  carefully  disposed  over  the  grandly-formed 
head  with  which,  as  he  told  a  Scotch  deputation  the  other  day, 
London  hatters  have  had  such  trouble.  The  rounded  cheeks  are 
sunken,  and  their  bloom  has  given  place  to  pallor;  the  full  brow  is 
wrinkled;  the  dark  eyes,  bright  and  flashing  still,  are  underset  with 
innumerable  wrinkles ;  the  good  figure  is  somewhat  rounded  at  the 
shoulders ;  and  the  sprightly  step  is  growing  deliberate. 

"  But  the  intellectual  fire  of  forty  years  ago  is  rather  quickened 
than  quenched,  and  the  promise  of  health  has  been  abundantly  ful- 
filled in  a  maintenance  of  physical  strength  and  activity  that  seems 
phenomenal.  Mr.  Gladstone  will  outsit  the  youngest  member  of 
the  House  if  the  issue  at  stake  claims  his  vote  in  the  pending  divi- 
sion. He  can  speak  for  three  hours  at  a  stretch,  and  he  will  put 
into  the  three  hours  as  much  mental  and  physical  energy  as, 
judiciously  distributed,  would  suffice  for  the  whole  debate.  His 
magnificent  voice  is  as  true  in  tone  and  as  insensible  to  fatigue  as 
when  it  was  first  heard  within  the  walls  of  the  House. 

"  By  comparison  he  is  far  more  emphatic  when  addressing  the 
House  of  Commons  than  when  standing  before  a  public  meeting. 
This,  doubtless,  is  explicable  by  the  fact  that,  while  in  the  one  case 
he  is  free  from  contradiction,  in  the  other  he  is,  more  particularly 
in  a  period  of  Tory  ascendancy,  outrageously  subject  to  it.  Trem- 
bling through  every  nerve  with  conviction  and  the  wrath  of  battle, 
he  almost  literally  smites  his  opponent  hip  and  thigh.  Taking  the 
brass- bound  box  upon  the  table  as  representative  of  the  right 
honorable  gentleman  or  the  noble  lord  opposite,  he  will  beat  it 
violently  with  his  right  hand,  creating  a  resounding  noise  that 
sometimes  makes  it  difficult  to  catch  the  words  he  desires  to 
emphasize. 

"  Or,  standing  with  heels  closely  pressed  together  and  feet  spread 
out  fanwise,  so  that  he  may  turn  as  on  a  pivot  to  watch  the  effect 
of  his  speech  apon  either  side  of  the  House,  he  will  assume  that  the 
palm  of  his  left  hand  is  his  adversary  of  the  moment,  and  straight- 
way he  beats  upon  it  with  his  right  hand  with  a  ferocity  that  causes 
to  curdle  the  blood  of  the  occupants  of  the  ladies'  gallerv.  At  this 


438  Personal  Characteristics. 

stage  will  be  noted  the  most  marked  retention  of  the  early  House 
of  Commons  habit,  in  the  way  in  which  the  orator  continually  turns 
around  to  address  his  own  followers,  to  the  outraging  of  the  funda- 
mental point  of  etiquette  that  all  speech  should  be  directed  to  the 
Chair." 

His  manner  as  an  orator  brings  us  to  the  consideration  of  his 
qualities  as  an  orator.  Our  space  has  not  permitted  us  to  give 
many  or  long  extracts  from  his  speeches,  but  perhaps  enough  has 
been  quoted  to  show  what  is  his  literary  style.  His  enemies  find 
fault  with  it  in  two  respects :  he  is  too  verbose,  and  his  statements 
are  often  so  indirect  as  to  be  ambiguous.  As  to  his  verbosity  they 
may  well  complain,  for  it  is  the  heaping  of  argument  upon  argu- 
ment, of  epithet  upon  epithet,  of  invective  upon  invective,  which 
makes  him  so  terrible  a  foe.  The  charge  that  he  can  talk  a  good 
deal  without  saying  anything  is  perhaps  true;  but  their  caviling  is 
mere  jealousy,  for  it  is  often  an  inestimable  power  to  the  minister 
of  the  Crown  who  must  reply  to  questions,  but  is  not  yet  ready  to 
announce  his  policy. 

Mr.  Hayward,  in  his  "  Critical  and  Biographical  Essays," 
awards  the  first  place  among  parliamentary  debaters  to  Mr.  Glad- 
stone, on  the  ground  that  he  has  made  more  fine  speeches  than  any 
other  orator  of  the  day.  "  He  may  lack  Mr.  Bright's  impressive 
diction,  impressive  by  its  simplicity,  or  Mr.  Disraeli's  humor  and 
sarcasm,  but  he  has  made  ten  eminently  successful  speeches  where 
Mr.  Bright  or  Mr.  Disraeli  has  made  one."  To  this  dictum  Justin 
McCarthy  demurs,  on  the  ground  that  it  is  not  the  number  of  pro- 
ductions, but  the  merit  of  the  best,  that  makes  a  man  pre-eminent 
over  his  fellows. 

"  We  are  not,  therefore,  inclined  to  call  Mr.  Gladstone  the 
greatest  English  orator  of  our  time  when  we  remember  some  of  the 
finest  speeches  of  Mr.  Bright ;  but  did  we  regard  parliamentary 
speaking  as  a  mere  instrument  of  parliamentary  business  and 
debate,  then  unquestionably  Mr.  Gladstone  is  not  only  the  greatest, 
but  by  far  the  greatest,  English  orator  of  our  time,  for  he  has  a 
richer  combination  of  gifts  than  any  other  man  we  can  remember, 
and  he  could  use  them  oftenest  with  effect.  He  was  like  a  racer 
which  cannot,  indeed,  always  go  faster  than  every  rival,  but  can 
win  more  races  in  a  year  than  any  other  horse. 


Personal  Characteristics.  439 

ft  Mr.  Gladstone  could  get  up  at  any  moment,  and  no  matter  how 
many  times  a  night,  in  the  House  of  Commons  and  be  argumenta- 
tive or  indignant,  pour  out  a  stream  of  impassioned  eloquence  or  a 
shower  of  figures,  just  as  the  exigency  of  the  debate  and  the  moment 
required.  He  was  not,  of  course,  always  equal,  but  he  was  always 
eloquent  and  effective.  He  seemed  as  if  he  could  not  be  anything 
but  eloquent.  Perhaps,  judged  in  this  way,  he  never  had  an  equal 
in  the  English  Parliament.  Probably  no  one,  past  or  present,  had 
in  combination  so  many  gifts  of  voice,  manner,  fluency,  and  argu- 
ment, style,  reason,  and  passion,  as  Mr.  Gladstone." 

The  style  of  his  speeches  is  wonderful,  when  we  consider  that 
he  never  writes  out  a  line  of  them,  and  that  some  of  his  most 
effective  orations  have  been  delivered  in  reply  to  those  which  had 
just  ended  when  he  rose  to  his  feet.  Mr.  Bright,  on  the  contrary, 
was  in  the  habit  of  writing  out  the  peroration  of  his  speeches,  and 
not  infrequently  sent  the  slip  of  paper  to  the  reporters,  that  they 
might  be  certain  to  get  his  words  correctly.  Mr.  Disraeli  some- 
times wrote  out  the  whole  of  a  speech  which  he  intended  to  be 
especially  effective ;  and  on  one  occasion  at  least  a  speech  of  his 
was  in  type  before  it  was  delivered. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  eloquence,  however,  is  in  a  certain  sense  spon- 
taneous. A  notable  examble  of  this  faculty  was  the  speech  at  the 
close  of  the  debate  on  the  Irish  University  bill,  a  rare  example  of 
close  reasoning,  brilliant  illustration,  and  powerful  eloquence.  This 
was  begun  when  Mr.  Disraeli  sat  down,  and  was  for  the  greatest 
and  best  part  an  answer  to  what  the  Tory  leader  had  just  said. 

We  have  limited  the  assertion  that  Mr.  Gladstone's  eloquence 
was  spontaneous.  While  he  never  wrote  out  his  speeches,  and 
apparently  could  speak  as  well  without  preparation  as  with  it,  he 
was  always  careful  to  inform  himself  fully  upon  the  subject  on 
which  he  intended  to  speak.  Fortified  with  facts,  and  if  need  be 
figures,  his  command  of  language  was  such  that  he  was  enabled  to 
put  these  not  only  into  the  best  form  possible,  but  what  was  of  more 
immediate  importance,  into  the  form  most  acceptable  to  his  hearers. 

We  have  alluded  to  what  is  sometimes  termed  his  verbosity.  He 
was  often  diffuse,  because  of  his  extreme  care  to  state  the  case  just 
as  he  saw  it,  with  all  the  arguments  which  led  him  to  a  given 
determination ;  but  he  could  be  concise  if  there  was  a  reason  for  it. 


440  Personal  Characteristics. 

Mr.  Wemyss  Reid,  in  his  "  Cabinet  Portraits,"  describes  a  scene 
in  which  Mr.  Gladstone  held  in  check  his  tendency  to  extreme 
fluency : 

"  He  is  never  seen  to  so  much  advantage  as  when,  at  the  close  of 
a  long  discussion,  he  rises  in  the  midst  of  a  crowded  House,  impa- 
tient for  a  division,  to  reply  to  Mr.  Disraeli  or  Mr.  Hardy.  The 
readiness  with  which  he  replies  to  a  speech  just  delivered  is 
amazing.  He  will  take  up,  one  after  another,  the  arguments  of 
his  opponent,  and  examine  them  and  debate  them  with  as  much 
precision  and  fluency  as  though  he  had  spent  weeks  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  his  answer.  Then,  too,  at  such  moments  time  is  precious, 
and  he  is  compelled  to  repress  that  tendency  to  prolixity  which  is 
one  of  his  greatest  faults  as  an  orator.  His  sentences,  instead 
of  wandering  on  interminably,  are  short  and  clear,  and  from 
beginning  to  end  of  the  speech  there  is  hardly  a  word  which  seems 
unnecessary. 

"The  excitement,  too,  which  prevails  around  him  always  infects 
him  strongly ;  his  pale  face  twitches,  his  magnificent  voice  quivers, 
his  body  sways  from  side  to  side  as  he  pours  forth  argument,  plead- 
ing and  invective,  strangely  intermingled.  The  storm  of  cheers 
and  counter-cheers  rages  around  him,  as  it  can  rage  nowhere  except 
in  the  House  of  Commons  on  such  an  occasion  ;  but  high  and  clear 
above  the  tumult  rings  out  his  voice,  like  the  trumpet  sounding 
through  the  din  of  the  battle-field. 

"  As  he  draws  to  a  close  something  like  a  calm  comes  over  the 
scene,  and  upon  both  sides  men  listen  eagerly  to  his  words,  anxious 
to  catch  each  sentence  of  his  peroration,  always  delivered  with  an 
artistic  care,  which  only  one  other  member  of  Parliament  can  equal, 
and  seldom  failing  to  impress  the  House  with  its  beauty.  Then  it 
is  that  his  great  powers  are  seen  to  the  best  and  fullest  advantage — 
voice  and  accent  and  gesture  all  giving  life  and  force  to  the  words 
which  he  utters." 

There  have  been  many  witty  sayings  regarding  Mr.  Gladstone's 
oratory.  It  was  said  that  he  was  the  only  man  in  the  House  who 
could  talk  in  italics — a  significant  saying.  It  was  something  like 
the  American  talent  for  exaggeration  which  prompted  another 
observer  to  say  that  Mr.  Gladstone  could  speak  upon  a  subject 
every  night  for  a  week,  and  then  say  coolly :  "  After  these 


Personal  Characteristics.  441 

few  preliminary  remarks,  I  will  proceed  to  the  full  discussion 
of  the  subject."  Assertions  that  he  never  seemed  weary  must  of 
course  be  limited;  perhaps  it  would  be  nearest  the  truth  to 
say  that  up  to  the  age  of  seventy-five  he  was  indefatigable  as 
a  speaker.  His  voice  seemed  not  to  grow  weak  or  husky,  what, 
ever  the  demands  that  were  made  upon  it,  but  rang  out  in  all 
its  silvery  clearness  at  the  close  as  at  the  beginning. 

So  much  for  Mr.  Gladstone  as  an  orator.  As  a  party  leader  he 
did  not  meet  with  the  same  unvarying  success.  The  reason  of  this 
was  that  he  was  never  able  to  understand  a  mind  of  less  power 
than  his  own.  "  He  is  incapable  of  making  any  allowances  for  the 
weaknesses  of  his  fellow-creatures,"  says  the  excellent  analyst  above 
quoted ;  "  he  has  great  strength  of  his  own ;  his  soul,  when  he  is 
engaged  on  any  question  of  importance,  is  filled  with  an  earnest- 
ness which  is  almost  heroic,  and  he  sees  only  one  road  to  the 
end  at  which  he  aims — the  shortest. 

"  Under  these  circumstances  he  is  incapable  of  understand- 
ing how  any  of  his  followers,  who  share  his  creed,  and  pro- 
fess to  be  anxious  to  reach  the  same  goal  as  himself,  can 
demur  to  the  path  he  is  taking.  For  their  individual  crotchets 
he  makes  no  allowances,  and  he  is  especially  regardless  of  the 
unwillingness  of  the  English  gentleman  to  be  driven  in  any 
particular  direction.  It  is  curious  to  see  as  the  result  of  this 
how  much  needless  irritation  he  succeeds,  at  times,  in  causing 
among  his  followers.  Over  and  over  again  the  Liberal  clubs 
have  rung  with  complaints  of  his  'temper' — it  ought  rather  to 
be  temperament — of  his  want  of  consideration  for  the  ideas,  the 
foibles,  the  prejudices  of  the  rank  and  file  of  his  party. 

"  The  general  result  is  that  he  makes  a  bad  leader.  Indeed,  it 
would  be  safer  to  say  that  he  does  not  lead  at  all,  in  the 
common  sense  of  the  word — others  lead  for  him.  Equally  certain 
is  it  that  he  has  a  will  of  enormous  strength.  Lord  Salisbury  has 
spoken  of  it  in  Parliament  as  an  arrogant  will,  and  it  is  un- 
doubtedly in  the  Cabinet  a  dominant  will — that  he  holds,  in 
a  very  considerable  degree,  that  the  end  justifies  the  means, 
and  that  he  is  in  the  heat  of  debate  a  victim  of  an  impetu- 
osity which  sometimes  hurries  him  into  false  positions,  from 
which  he  is  generally  too  proud  to  retreat  afterward." 


442  Personal  Characteristics. 

The  last  sentence  is  hardly  just,  though  we  have  quoted  it 
with  the  rest.  Perhaps  it  would  be  nearer  the  truth  to  say 
that  when  Mr.  Gladstone  was  thus  hurried  by  impetuosity  into 
false  positions,  he  has  argued  the  case  with  himself  until  he 
has  persuaded  himself  that  the  position  was  not  a  fal.ce  one. 
Taken  in  connection  with  the  judgment  of  the  Dean  of  Peters- 
borough  and  his  brother  of  Durham,  this  theory  is  not  untenable. 

As  a  Parliamentary  leader,  Mr.  Gladstone  stands  in  strong 
contrast  to  his"  great  rival,  who  was  never  so  thoroughly  in 
earnest  that  he  forgot  to  consider  the  failings  of  those  who  were  his 
followers,  or  who  might  be  made  so.  These  failings  of  the 
great  Liberal  may  be  well  illustrated  by  two  anecdotes,  which 
are  told  upon  good  authority. 

One  of  the  Ministers  was  twitted  by  some  friends  with  hav- 
ing supported  by  his  vote  certain  measures  to  which  they  had 
supposed  he  would  not  consent,  as  a  member  of  the  Cabinet ; 
and  it  was  rather  broadly  hinted  that  a  Minister  who  protests 
unavailingly  against  a  policy  has  always  the  privilege  of  re- 
signing. 

"I  have  not  agreed  with  a  single  measure  that  Mr.  Glad- 
stone has  brought  in  this  session  (1882),"  he  returned  somewhat 
indignantly,  "  but  I  voted  for  them  all,  and  I  have  not  felt  called 
upon  to  resign,  for  I  was  never  consulted  about  any  of  them." 

On  another  occasion,  when  the  division  of  the  Liberal  party  had 
become  a  fact,  a  prominent  member  of  it  asked  a  Gladstonian  what 
was  done  at  a  considerable  meeting  of  the  party. 

"Nothing,"  was  the  nonchalant  reply. 

"Nothing?"  repeated  the  interrogator;  "  then  what  was  the  use 
of  the  meeting?  " 

"Oh,  it  put  us  all  in  a  good  humor." 

Mr.  Gladstone  is  full  of  reminiscences,  and  thinks  that  every- 
body's memory  ought  to  be  as  tenacious  as  his  own.  One  night 
during  his  second  administration  he  sat  on  the  Treasury  bench 
with  only  one  colleague  beside  him.  He  was  apparently  asleep, 
and  the  other  man  thought  that  he  might  venture  on  a  doze.  But 
presently  the  Tory  who  was  speaking  ventured  upon  some  histori- 
cal statement.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  at  once  on  the  alert. 

"That  is  entirely  wrong,"  he  said,  rousing  himself  and  turning 


Personal  Characteristics. 

to  his  colleague.  "This  fellow  is  mixing  up  his  facts  and  his 
dates.  Don't  you  remember  so-and-so." 

He  proceeded  to  recall,  in  all  its  minuteness,  some  obscure  pas- 
sage of  political  history,  of  which  the  subordinate  was  obliged  to 
confess  that  he  knew  nothing.  Mr.  Gladstone  looked  at  him  a 
moment  in  pitying  wonder,  and  as  soon  as  he  dared  the  hapless 
man  slunk  away.  In  the  lobby  he  met  a  friend  to  whom  he  said  : 

"  I'm  going  home.  I  can't  stand  that  fiendish  old  man  any  more. 
Why,  he  actually  cross-examined  me  about  something  that  had 
happened  before  I  was  born." 

Having  thus  briefly  reviewed  Mr.  Gladstone's  career  as  an  orator 
and  a  party  leader,  we  come  to  the  consideration  of  his  work  as  a 
student  and  a  man  of  letters.  He  was  distinguished  from  the  very 
first  as  a  hard  worker.  While  at  Oxford  he  was  accustomed  to 
entertain  in  no  niggardly  way ;  but  when  his  friends  had  left  him, 
for  further  pleasures  or  for  rest,  he  was  hard  at  work  once  more.  It 
was  the  marvel  of  all,  how  he  managed  to  get  so  much  done,  without 
devoting  himself  to  study  to  the  exclusion  of  all  besides. 

The  secret  lay  in  the  system  with  which  he  labored.  "  It  mattered 
not  where  he  was,  in  college  rooms  or  in  country  mansion,  from 
10  A.M.  to  2  P.  M.  no  one  ever  saw  William  Ewart  Gladstone.  He 
was  locked  up  with  his  books.  From  the  age  of  eighteen  to  the 
age  of  twenty-one  he  never  missed  these  precious  four  hours  except 
when  he  was  traveling.  And  his  ordeal  in  the  evening  was  not  less 
severe;  eight  o'clock  saw  him  once  more  engaged  in  a  stiff  bout 
with  Aristotle,  or  plunged  deep  in  the  text  of  Thucydides." 

As  a  reader,  he  devoted  himself  to  those  books  which  would  be 
useful  to  him;  and  was  especially  averse  to  reading  a  borrowed 
book,  since  it  denies  the  reader  the  privilege  of  making  notes  upon 
the  margin.  His  immense  library  at  Ha  warden  has  never  been 
catalogued,  such  a  thing  being  unnecessary  to  a  man  who  could  go 
to  the  shelf  and  put  his  hand  at  once  upon  the  very  book  he  wished. 

Within  the  walls  containing  the  finest  private  library  in  the 
world  (for  so  his  book-treasures  have  been  ranked),  the  thoughtful 
writer  did  most  of  his  writing.  But  he  never  confined  his  reading 
to  the  one  apartment ;  that  was  done  anywhere,  in  the  house  or 
out  of  it;  he  accustomed  himself  even  to  read  while  strolling  along 
the  country  roads  and  across  the  fields  ;  throughout,  his  residence 


444  Personal  Characteristics. 

at  Hawarden  became,  at  an  early  period,  pre-eminently  a  stu- 
dent's life. 

The  productions  of  this  life  have  their  chief  interest  in  their 
authorship ;  though  they  are  of  no  small  literary  value.  His  first 
published  work  was  "  The  State  in  its  Relations  with  the  Church," 
to  which  ample  reference  has  already  been  made.  Twenty  years 
afterward,  or  in  1858,  he  published  a  work  in  three  volumes, 
entitled  "  Homer  and  the  Homeric  Age."  This  has  been  described 
as  a  great,  but  very  unequal  work ;  though  the  same  critic  says 
that  as  the  work  of  one  of  the  first  of  orators  and  statesmen  the 
volumes  are  altogether  wonderful. 

From  the  overflowings  of  this  vast  reservoir  of  Homeric  knowl- 
edge, have  been  gathered  a  number  of  magazine  articles,  which  have 
excited  much  interest  among  scholars ;  and  the  earlier  important 
work  has  been  followed  by  two  others,  involving  scarcely  less  labor 
and  thought — Juventus  Mundi  and  Homeric  Synchronism;  the 
former  in  1869,  and  the  latter  in  1876. 

During  the  period  that  Mr.  Gladstone  professed  to  be  in  retire- 
ment, though  it  soon  became  evident  that  retirement  from  politica/ 
life  was  impossible  for  him  as  long  as  his  health,  physical  and 
mental,  permitted  him  to  take  part,  he  chiefly  occupied  himself  with 
controversial  writings.  To  this  period  we  must  assign  his  pamphlet 
on  "The  Vatican  Decrees,"  and  that  on  "  Vaticanism,"  written  in 
reply  to  those  who  had  answered  the  first.  The  essays  on  Ritualism 
had  preceded  those  upon  Catholicism ;  and  he  had  not  done  with 
his  criticisms  upon  Pius  IX,  before  the  necessities  of  the  political 
situation  demanded  that  he  should  turn  his  pen  to  another  use — the 
picturing  of  the  atrocities  perpetrated  in  Bulgaria. 

Mr.  Gladstone  was  long  a  valued  contributor  to  the  Reviews, 
his  subjects  being  drawn  from  the  wide  range  indicated  by  the 
varying  nature  of  his  published  volumes.  These  minor  contribu- 
tions to  literature  were  collected  some  years  since  into  a  series  of 
seven  volumes,  entitled  "Gleanings  of  Past  Years."  These  include 
all  of  his  essays  except  those  of  a  controversial  or  political  charac- 
ter, as  far  as  then  published ;  but  this  is  a  most  important  excep- 
tion. His  writings  on  Vaticanism  have  also  been  collected  and 
published  in  two  volumes. 

Of  the  "Gleanings  of  Past  Years,"  perhaps  the  essay  of  most 


Personal  Characteristics.  445 

interest  to  us  as  Americans  is  that  entitled  u  Kin  beyond  Sea," 
which  originally  appeared  in  the  North  American  Review  in  1878. 
Mr.  Gladstone  was  most  severely  taken  to  task  for  this  essay,  as  he 
had  declared  in  it  that  America  would  ultimately  become  "  the 
head  servant  in  the  great  household  of  the  world,"  and  that  Eng- 
land would  do  well  to  prepare  herself  in  time  for  the  loss  of  this 
position. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  style  as  a  writer  can  hardly  be  called  an  attrac- 
tive one;  it  "  looks  fatiguing."  But  the  force  of  his  words  is  such 
that  we  are  carried  along  in  spite  of  ourselves ;  the  untiring  energy 
and  earnestness  of  the  man  become  infectious ;  and  we  are  hurried 
along  on  a  swift  stream  of  thought,  where  we  had  supposed  we 
would  find  it  hard  work  to  row. 

In  the  midst  of  profound  research  and  scholarly  thought,  of  the 
statesman's  anxious  cares  and  the  financier's  close  calculations,  the 
great  Liberal  never  shut  himself  away  from  his  kind.  A  discern- 
uig  writer  says  of  his  social  qualities : 

"  He  is  as  merry  as  a  child  when  acting  host  or  being  a  private 
guest.  But  however  gay  his  talk,  there  is  always  a  pervading 
dignity  in  his  bearing  and  language,  and  no  one  will  ever  presume 
to  be  familiar  with  him.  Lowell  says,  you  remember,  that  John 
Milton  was  not  a  man  to  be  slapped  on  the  back.  Neither  is 
Gladstone.  You  may  laugh  at  his  jest,  and  return  anecdote  for 
anecdote  to  his  gleeful  satisfaction.  But  no  man  ever  saw  him  out 
of  that  noble  suavity  which  becomes  so  well  his  age,  his  rank  in 
the  world  of  state-craft  and  of  letters,  and  his  achievements  in  both. 

"  His  conversational  capacity  is  evidently  boundless.  Having  a 
memory  almost  phenomenal  in  range  and  tenacity,  he  draws  upon  it 
as  gaily  as  a  vintner  upon  his  cellar;  and  like  wine,  the  oldest  stock 
is  often  the  most  delicious.  He  can  summon  personal  recollections 
of  interesting  men  in  all  walks  of  life  with  spontaneous  accuracy ; 
and  only  those  who  have  heard  him  at  the  table,  when  all  political 
care  was  dismissed  for  the  day,  can  credit  the  amazing  range  of  his 
acquaintance  with  the  curious  and  picturesque  life  of  England 
wholly  apart  from  his  politics." 

The  same  writer  says:  "The  untaught  rustic  winding  his  long 
whip  over  a  team  of  oxen  down  the  highway  would  look  with  im- 
pulsive pleasure  upon  a  man  in  his  shirt  sleeves  hacking  away  at 


446  Personal  Characteristics. 

the  solid  trunk  of  a  giant  oak ;  but  the  moment  he  saw  the  axeman's 
eyes,  the  moment  the  lithe,  strong  body  of  the  chopper  assumed  an 
upright  pose,  even  he  would  pull  off  his  hat  and  silently  acknowl- 
edge the  presence  of  a  man  of  power." 

This,  however,  is  something  of  an  exaggeration ;  for  it  is  a  well- 
attested  fact  that  Mr.  Gladstone  once  received  a  practical  lesson  in 
chopping  from  a  peasant  who  did  not  recognize  him,  and  who  was 
not  at  all  satisfied  with  the  great  man's  way  of  going  to  work ;  nor 
was  his  ignorance  dispelled  by  his  pupil,  who  humbly  received  the 
instructions  of  the  man  who  could  do  this  and  nothing  else ;  and  it 
is  to  be  presumed  that  he  profited  by  the  lesson. 

Though  Hawarden  Castle  is  by  no  means  easy  of  access,  being 
no  little  distance  from  the  nearest  railway  station,  the  roads  to 
which  are  not  always  in  the  best  possible  condition,  it  became  a 
very  Mecca  to  political  pilgrims ;  some  of  them  even  coming  from 
Scotland,  as  well  as  points  nearer  by.  Indeed,  there  seems  always 
to  have  been  a  sincere  admiration  in  the  northern  kingdom  for  this 
son  of  her  ancient  race,  who  partook  of  many  of  the  qualities  char- 
acteristic of  the  canny  Scot ;  to  such  an  extent  that  even  one  of  the 
Liberal  organs  once  dubbed  him  "  a  self-willed  old  Scotchman." 

A  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Sun  thus  describes  the  end  of 
one  of  these  pilgrimages  in  1887  : 

"  Working  away  in  his  library,  the  old  man  is  told  that  a  crowd 
is  outside,  and  would  be  pleased  to  see  him.  He  drops  his  pen  or 
book  as  soon  as  mental  convenience  will  admit,  dons  an  old  hat, 
seeks  Mrs.  Gladstone,  who  throws  some  light  wrap  over  her 
shoulders  and  a  veil  of  black  lace  or  silk  netting  over  her  very 
gray  hair,  and  out  they  go  together  like  boy  and  girl.  The  lawn 
terrace  is  eight  feet  higher  than  the  roadway,  and  is  reached  by 
wooden  steps  descending  from  a  narrow  platform.  Standing  on  this 
platform,  the  two  Gladstones  greet  the  people,  who  cheer  and  cheer 
and  wave  hats  and  handkerchiefs  and  umbrellas. 

"  Then,  if  the  old  man  be  hoarse,  or  not  in  a  mood  for  talk, 
Mrs.  Gladstone,  leaning  over  the  edge  of  the  platform,  tells  the  peo- 
ple in  a  silvery,  clear  voice  that  Mr.  Gladstone  is  delighted  to  see 
them,  and  is  thankful  for  the  cordial  feeling  which  has  brought 
them  so  far,  but  that,  as  he  is  not  well,  they  will  kindly  excuse  him 
from  speaking.  Cheers  are  mingled  with  expressions  of  sympathy, 


Personal  Characteristics.  447 

and,  if  there  be  not  too  many  of  them,  Mrs.  Gladstone  invites  them 
up  to  the  platform,  where  a  patient  scene  of  handshaking  is  gone 
through,  with  smiles  on  the  old  man's  face  and  happiness  shining 
out  of  his  glorious  old  eyes." 

We  have  left  till  the  last  the  consideration  of  his  character  from 
the  religious  point  of  view.  Here  it  seems  that  we  are  indeed 
treading  upon  holy  ground ;  his  mental  characteristics,  his  physical 
appearance,  the  actions  of  his  life,  the  impressions  which  he  has 
made  upon  the  minds  of  others,  his  studies,  the  measures  of  his  Min- 
istry, even  his  demeanor  in  society,  and  his  recreations,  may  fairly 
be  deemed  public  property ;  we  have  intruded  slightly  upon  his 
domestic  privacy,  and  now  remains  the  task  of  describing  the  altars 
of  the  inmost  recesses  of  his  spirit. 

The  college  student  was  reckoned  an  "  enquirer."  That  is,  he 
was  among  those  thoughtful  natures  which  were  not  content  with 
the  Established  Church  unless  acquaintance  with  others  should 
prove  that  it  was  the  best.  It  was  no  blind  and  unreasoning 
attachment  to  the  Church  of  his  childhood,  then,  that  held  Mr. 
Gladstone ;  it  was  a  deliberate  conviction.  His  Oxford  training 
never  wholly  faded  from  his  mind  in  this  respect,  so  that  he  always 
retained  a  leaning  to  the  High  Church  party,  the  bulk  of  whom 
are  Tories.  Wisely  discarding  politics  from  his  mind  in  this  con- 
nection, he  held  to  the  course  which  his  conscience  approved. 

His  life  was  an  exemplification  of  the  belief  that  Christianity  is 
a  living,  vitalizing  force  in  the  individual,  and  he  endeavored  prac- 
tically to  illustrate  its  influence.  Nor  did  he  hold  himself  aloof 
from  those  who  were  in  need  of  help  and  advice.  Even  when 
Prime  Minister  of  England,  he  has  been  found  in  the  humblest 
houses,  reading  to  the  sick  or  dying  consolatory  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture in  his  soft,  melodious  tones.  His  personal  charity  became  pro- 
verbial among  those  who  knew  him  best,  and  his  generosity  was 
never  bounded  by  pecuniary  limits. 

On  Sunday  morning,  as  the  bells  of  Hawarden  church  rang  out 
upon  the  heavy  autumn  air,  vigorous  pedestrians  might  be  observed 
marching  up  the  hill,  their  dusty  raiment  and  shining  countenances 
proclaiming  that  their  walk  had  been  a  long  one.  This  determin- 
ation toward  Hawarden  as  a  place  of  devotion  was  not  owing  to  a 
dearth  of  churches  in  the  neighborhood.  There  are  churches  at 


448  Personal  Characteristics. 

Mold  and  elsewhere ;  but  in  none  of  these  were  the  lessons  read  in 
the  sonorous  tones  of  the  ex-Premier  of  England. 

These  church-goers  saw  a  group  come  in  sight  from  the  opposite 
direction ;  foremost  would  be  the  venerable  couple,  who  had  shared 
life  for  more  than  fifty  years ;  following  them,  those  of  their  chil- 
dren who  had  remained  with  them,  or  who  had  returned  home  for 
a  visit ;  with,  perhaps,  a  representative  of  the  rising  generation  in 
the  person  of  a  grandchild.  They  would  pause  at  the  entrance  to 
the  church,  to  greet  those  who  had  waited  for  such  an  opportunity; 
there  would,  perhaps,  be  a  word  or  two  with  the  rector,  Rev. 
Stephen  Gladstone,  and  then  the  service  would  begin. 

More  profound  than  the  great  Premier's  scholarship,  more  con- 
spicuous than  his  commanding  genius,  more  controlling  than  his 
consecration  to  the  welfare  of  his  country,  was  his  life-long  devo- 
tion to  his  sense  of  religious  duty  and  to  the  high  ideal  of  Chris- 
tian manhood,  which  always  stood  before  him  like  the  cross  of 
Constantine,  painted  on  the  sky,  and  which  allured  his  gaze  and 
inspired  his  most  earnest  endeavors. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

MR.  GLADSTONE'S  DEATH  AND  OBSEQUIES. 

Mr.  Gladstone  in  the  South  of  France — Return  from  Cannes — Signs  of  Growing 
Weakness — Peaceful  Death — Universal  Demonstrations  of  Grief — Tele- 
grams of  Sympathy  —  Adjournment  of  the  House  of  Commons  —  The 
Queen  and  Prince  of  Wales  Express  Their  Symp  ithy — Tributes  from  the 
Newspaper  Press— Telegram  from  the  Government  of  the  United  States- 
Estimate  of  Mr.  Gladstone  by  Prominent  Americans — Lying  in  State  at 
Westminster — Great  Throngs  of  People  View  the  Remains — Hemarkable 
Demonstration  at  Mr.  Gladstone's  Funeral — Burial  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

MR.  GLADSTONE'S  exceptionally  strong  constitution  pre- 
vented any  serious  illness  or  any  rumor  of  failure  or  decay 
until  the  close  of  his  eighty-eighth  year.    On  November  21 , 
1897,  a  rumor  circulated  in  London  of  a  sudden  breaking  up,  start- 
lingly  reminded  the  world  of  the  possibility  of  his  removal.    Insom- 
mnia  was  generally  stated  to  be  his  chief  trouble,  but  the  confident 
contradictions  from  the  family  allayed  the  first  dread  fears.     It 
was  said  at  this  time  his  mind  was  as  keen  as  ever,  but  that  he  was 
more  feeble  on  account  of  his  sedentary  life. 

Mr.  Gladstone  started  for  Cannes  in  company  with  Mrs.  Glad- 
stone, Miss  Gladstone  and  Mr.  Henry  Gladstone  on  November  26, 
breaking  the  journey  at  Folkestone  and  Paris.  He  felt  no  ill  effects 
from  the  journey,  and  it  was  announced  at  this  time  that  the  neu- 
ralgia with  which  he  had  been  troubled  had  diminished.  His  so- 
journ at  Cannes  for  two  months  was  quiet,  and  varying  reports  from 
time  to  time  left  the  general  impression  that  the  aged  Premier  was 
being  benefited.  Great  was  the  surprise,  therefore,  when  on  Jan- 
uary 20  it  was  announced  that  Mr.  Gladstone's  condition  was  caus- 
ing grave  anxiety,  and  that  his  sojourn  had  not  had  the  desired 
effect. 

The   former  Premier  returned  on  February  19,  and  although 
arrangements  were  made  at  Calais  for  two  men  to  carry  him  from 
the  train  to  the  boat,  he  insisted  on  walking  the  distance  of  about 
29  449 


450  Mr.  Gladstone's  Death  and  Obsequies. 

thirty  yards.  His  changed  and  tottering  appearance  was  the  sub- 
ject of  general  remark.  Arrived  at  Charing  Cross,  many  of  the 
aged  Premier's  friends  awaited  him,  and  he  was  driven  to  Carl- 
ton  House  Terrace,  his  son's  residence.  After  remaining  in  Lon- 
don for  a  few  days  he  was  medically  advised  to  go  to  Bourne- 
mouth, and  Lord  Vernon  placed  his  beautiful  residence  at  Mr. 
Gladstone's  disposal. 

No  benefit  accrued.  On  March  6th  he  stopped  all  work,  and 
his  friends  read  or  played  to  him.  He  was  taken  home  on  March 
20th.  Later  it  was  announced  that  he  was  about  to  undergo  an 
operation  for  necrosis  of  the  bone  of  the  nose  from  which  he  had 
been  suffering.  Day  by  day  he  got  weaker  and  weaker,  and  in  the 
early  part  of  April  took  to  his  bed.  At  times  during  the  month  he 
suffered  violent  twinges  of  neuralgic  pain,  but  in  the  early  days  of 
May  a  general  renewal  of  strength,  and  frequent  injections  of 
morphine  under  the  tongue  relieved  him. 

His  state  during  the  few  days  preceding  his  death  was  one  of 
great  weakness,  the  patient  remaining  silent  in  a  semi-comatose 
state.  From  time  to  time  he  roused  to  give  his  benediction  to  his 
friends,  and  the  week  before  he  died  he  bade  a  pathetic  farewell  to 
two  of  his  most  trusted  colleagues  and  friends — Lord  Rosebery 
and  Mr.  John  Morley. 

On  "May  18th  Mr.  Gladstone  was  slowly  dying  at  his  castle  at 
Hawarden.  His  physician  said  in  the  afternoon,  "  The  end  is  now 
near.  He  breathes  heavily  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  his  breath- 
ing is  hardly  perceptible.  Mrs.  Gladstone  is  with  her  dying  hus- 
band. She  and  others  of  the  family  do  not  leave  the  room  for 
more  than  a  few  minutes  at  a  time." 

Shortly  after  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  he  rallied  a  little  and 
slept  calmly.  It  was  believed  he  would  pass  away  during  the 
period  of  rest.  At  a  quarter  past  eleven  o'clock,  however,  this 
bulletin  was  issued :  "  Mr.  Gladstone's  condition  is  unchanged. 
The  slight  rally  is  maintained  and  he  is  sleeping  peacefully."  He 
was  still  sleeping  at  an  early  hour  in  the  morning,  and  the  family, 
anticipating  the  end,  watched  at  his  bedside. 

His  pulse  was  hardly  perceptible  at  the  wrists  and  his  extremi- 
ties were  cold.  When  offered  medicine  at  half-past  four  o'clock, 
Mr.  Gladstone  exclaimed  :  "  No,  no."  Apart  from  this  he  seldom 


Ms.  Gladstone's  Death  and  Obsequies.  451 

spoke  except  to  commence  a  prayer.  He  was  practically  uncon- 
scious. The  attending  physician  said  :  "It  is  a  strange  fact  that 
when  addressed  in  English  Mr.  Gladstone  murmurs  a  few  words 
in  French,  and  sometimes  seems  to  be  trying  to  pray  in  French. 
He  has  had  very  serious  attacks  of  the  heart  in  the  last  forty-eight 
hours,  and  there  has  been  an  altogether  very  rapid  failure.  He 
lies  partially  unconscious,  is  delirious  and  has  what  is  medically 
called  changed  stroke  in  breathing.  He  is  no  longer  in  pain." 

An  official  bulletin  which  was  issued  at  five  o'clock  on  the  after- 
noon of  the  18th,  said :  "  Mr.  Gladstone  has  taken  a  serious  turn 
for  the  worst.  His  death  may  be  expected  in  twenty-four  hours." 
All  the  servants  of  the  household  were  admitted  to  the  sick  room 
late  in  the  evening  for  a  final  farewell.  They  found  Mr.  Glad- 
stone lying  on  his  right  side,  in  deep  sleep,  as  if  dead.  Each  in 
turn  touched  his  hand  and  left  the  room  tearfully. 

The  deepest  manifestations  of  grief  over  the  death  of  Mr.  Glad- 
stone were  reported  throughout  the  country.  Flags  were  every- 
where half  masted,  the  bells  were  tolled  and  in  the  public  galleries 
of  London  the  pictures  of  Mr.  Gladstone  were  draped  with  crape. 
The  Queen  and  the  Prince  of  Wales  received  an  early  intimation 
of  the  sad  news,  and  immediately  sent  touching  expressions  of  con- 
dolence to  the  widow. 

Further  details  from  Hawarden  Castle  of  the  passing  away  of 
the  great  English  statesman  showed  that  his  end  was  the  most 
peaceful  imaginable.  There  was  no  sign  of  pain  or  distress.  Mrs. 
Gladstone  clasped  her  husband's  hand  and  occasionally  kissed  it, 
while  the  Rev.  Stephen  Gladstone  read  prayers  and  repeated 
hymns.  The  only  other  evidence  that  Mr.  Gladstone  realized  his 
surroundings  was  when  his  son  recited  the  Litany.  Then  the 
dying  man  feebly  murmured  "Amen."  This  was  the  last  word 
spoken  by  Mr.  Gladstone. 

Very  many  telegrams  of  sympathy  arrived  at  Hawarden  Castle. 
Among  them  was  one  from  President  Faure  expressing  his  condol- 
ences. Another,  from  United  States  Ambassador  Hay,  addressed 
to  the  Right  Hon.  Herbert  Gladstone,  said :  "  I  beg  to  present  to 
all  your  family  my  heartfelt  expression  of  sympathy  at  your  per- 
sonal loss,  and  at  the  same  time  to  reverently  congratulate  you  and 
the  English  race  everywhere  upon  the  glorious  completion  of  a  life 


452  Mr.  Gladstone's  Death  and  Obsequies. 

filled  with  splendid  achievements  and  consecrated  to  the  noblest 
purposes." 

The  House  of  Commons  was  crowded  during  the  day  following 
Mr.  Gladstone's  death,  and  when  the  Speaker,  Mr.  William  Court 
Gully,  called  upon  the  government  leader,  Mr.  A.  J.  Balfour,  the 
First  Lord  of  the  Treasury,  all  present  uncovered  their  heads.  Mr. 
Balfour  said :  "  I  think  it  will  be  felt  in  all  parts  of  the  House 
that  we  should,  by  adjourning,  do  fitting  honor  to  the  great  man 
whose  long  and  splendid  career  closed  to-day. 

"  This  is  not  the  occasion  for  uttering  the  thoughts  which  natur- 
ally suggest  themselves.  That  occasion  will  present  itself  to-morrow, 
when  it  will  be  my  duty  to  submit  to  the  House  an  address  to  the 
Queen,  praying  her  to  grant  the  honor  of  a  public  funeral,  if  such 
honor  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  expressed  wishes  of  himself  or  of 
those  who  have  a  right  to  speak  in  his  behalf,  and  also  praying  the 
Queen  to  direct  that  a  public  monument  be  erected  at  Westminster 
with  an  inscription  expressive  of  the  public  admiration,  attachment 
and  high  sense  entertained  by  the  House  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  rare 
and  splendid  gifts  and  devoted  labors  in  Parliament  and  in  the  high 
offices  of  State.  Before  actually  moving  the  adjournment  I  have  to 
propose  a  formal  resolution  that  the  House  to-morrow  resolve  itself 
into  committee  to  draw  up  an  address,  the  contents  of  which  I  have 
just  indicated." 

After  a  word  of  assent  from  Sir  William  Vernon  Harcourt,  the 
liberal  leader,  the  resolution  was  adopted  and  the  House  adjourned. 

All  the  Continental  papers  published  tributes  to  Mr.  Gladstone. 
The  French  papers  were  especially  sympathetic,  and  the  Greek 
newspapers  expressed  their  deep  gratitude  for  what  Mr.  Gladstone 
did  for  Greece. 

Public  opinion  in  England  was  profoundly  stirred  by  the  death 
of  Mr.  Gladstone.  A  member  of  the  Cabinet,  in  the  course  of  a 
long  interview,  said  :  "  It  is  difficult  to  find  words  adequate  to 
express  one's  feelings  at  such  an  event.  The  disappearance  of  such 
a  central  figure  is  a  tremendous  loss.  In  Parliament  and  through- 
out the  country  his  influence  over  our  public  life  was  unparalleled." 

All  the  papers  came  out  with  special  editions  with  heavy,  black 
borders,  announcing  the  death  of  Mr.  Gladstone.  The  Daily 
Chronicle  headed  its  editorial  with  a  quotation  from  Wordsworth : 


Mr.  Gladstone's  Death  and  Obsequies.  453 

u  This  is  the  happy  warrior ;  this  is  he ; 
That  every  man  in  arms  should  wish  to  be." 

The  editorial  said :  "  A  glorious  light  has  been  extinguished  in  the 
land.  Mr.  Gladstone  is  dead ;  and  all  his  life  lies  in  the  past,  a 
memory  to  us  and  our  children,  an  inspiration  and  possession  for- 
ever. The  end  has  come  as  to  a  soldier  at  his  post.  It  found  him 
calm,  expectant,  faithful,  unshaken.  Death  has  come  robed  in  the 
terrors  of  mortal  pain ;  but  what  better  can  be  said  than  that  as  he 
taught  his  fellows  how  to  live,  so  he  has  taught  them  how  to  die  ? 
It  is  impossible  at  this  hour  to  survey  the  mighty  range  of  this 
splendid  life." 

The  Daily  News  said :  "  We  cannot  help  dwelling  upon  the  opin- 
ions which  Mr.  Gladstone  held  most  strongly  and  the  sentiments 
which  he  felt  most  deeply,  because  they  are  the  only  key  which  un- 
locks his  character  and  his  life.  One  of  his  most  characteristic 
qualities  was  his  personal  humanity.  He  was  not  easy  to  persuade. 
He  paid  little  attention  to  other  people's  opinions  when  his  mind 
was  made  up.  He  was  quite  aware  of  his  own  ascendancy  in  coun- 
sel and  his  supremacy  in  debate.  On  other  questions  he  did,  in- 
deed, instruct  his  own  judgment.  On  politics  he  did  not ;  but  the 
secret  of  his  humility  was  an  abiding  sense  that  these  things  were 
of  no  importance  compared  with  the  relations  between  God's  crea- 
tures and  their  Creator." 

The  Standard  said  :  "  Whether  men  agreed  with  him  or  differed 
from  him  in  matters  of  party  politics,  they  could  not  come  within 
the  range  of  his  influence  as  an  administrator  without  being  pro- 
foundly impressed  alike  with  his  extraordinary  powers  of  despatch- 
ing public  business  most  efficiently  and  his  absolute  devotion  to 
what  he  believed  to  be  the  highest  interests  of  his  country." 

The  formal  sympathy  of  the  United  States  government  was  em- 
bodied in  the  cablegram  of  the  Secretary  of  State  to  Ambassador 
Hay,  as  follows : 

"  Through  appropriate  channels  express  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  fam- 
ily the  sympathy  and  sorrow  of  the  American  people  at  the  passing 
away  in  the  ripeness  of  years  and  fulness  of  honors  of  one  of  the 
most  notable  figures  of  modern  civil  statesmanship." 

Cardinal  Gibbons  spoke  as  follows  concerning  the  great  states- 
man :  "Posterity  will  rank  Gladstone  among  the  few  great  states- 


454  Mr.  Gladstone's  Death  and  Obsequies. 

men  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Sixty  years  ago,  when  he  was  only 
thirty  years  of  age,  Macaulay,  in  the  Edinburgh  Review,  predicted 
the  political  eminence  which  Gladstone  would  attain.  That  predic- 
tion has  been  amply  fulfilled.  His  chief  claim  to  gratitude  and 
greatness  is  found  in  his  advocacy  of  home  rule,  because  the  meas- 
ure was  so  unpopular  with  the  majority  of  his  countrymen." 

Hon.  John  Sherman  said :  "  Mr.  Gladstone,  while  living,  was 
regarded  by  the  American  people  as  a  statesman  of  the  highest 
grade  in  this  century ;  honorable  in  private  life,  patriotic  as  an 
Englishman,  and  just  to  the  people  of  the  many  countries  with 
whom  he  had  diplomatic  relations.  I  knew  him  personally,  and 
had  some  correspondence  with  him.  He  was,  without  limitation,  a 
pure  and  honorable  man,  and  his  memory  should  be  treasured  by 
every  Englishman  and  American." 

Another  tribute  came  from  former  Senator  Edmunds  :  "  Mr. 
Gladstone  was  a  really  great  man,  from  the  force  and  independence 
of  his  own  character,  rather  than  from  the  accident  of  birth  or  for- 
tune. Thus  fortified,  he  changed  his  opinion  when  he  was  con- 
vinced, not  fearing  the  temper  of  critics.  His  labors  have  been  on 
the  whole  of  great  benefit  to  the  cause  of  free  thought  and  better 
social  and  political  conditions." 

Ex-President  Harrison  said  :  "  There  were  but  a  few  men  in 
Gladstone's  class.  He  had  a  rare  combination  of  accomplishments 
— a  statesman,  an  orator  and  a  scholar — and  in  all  three  those  of 
the  first  grade.  When  we  add  to  these  the  gifts  of  serene  faith, 
the  purest  home  virtues  and  wide  benevolence,  we  have  a  man 
whose  knighthood  is  recorded  in  a  choicer  list  than  that  of  the 
British  peerage." 

United  States  Senator  Lodge  spoke  as  follows :  "  The  death  of 
Mr.  Gladstone  takes  from  the  world  one  of  the  greatest  figures  of 
this  century.  Whether  one  agreed  with  him  or  not,  nobody  could 
fail  to  admire  the  marvellous  vitality,  the  noble  eloquence,  which 
never  failed,  the  eager  sympathy  with  every  oppressed  people,  the 
fertility  and  resource  in  every  field  of  public  life,  which  have  for 
so  many  years  engaged  the  attention  of  the  world,  which  made  Mr. 
Gladstone  one  of  the  greatest  statesmen  of  his  time,  and  which 
will  cause  mourning  for  his  death  by  all  English-speaking1  peonle.'' 

Mr.  Gladstone's  body  was  removed  from   Ka warden  Castle  to 


Mr.  Gladstone's  Death  and  Obsequies.  455 

London,  where  it  lay  in  state  in  order  that  the  multitude  of  his 
friends  and  admirers  might  pay  a  last  tribute  of  respect  to  the 
illustrious  dead.  Remarkably  impressive  scenes  were  witnessed  at 
Westminster  when  the  arrivals  commenced  of  those  anxious  to 
view  the  remains.  The  line  formed  was  continually  augmented  by 
all  classes  of  people,  from  peers,  peeresses,  Cabinet  Ministers,  mem- 
bers  of  the  House  of  Commons,  military  and  naval  officers  and 
clergymen  to  costermongers,  old  and  young,  until  at  six  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  when  the  doors  were  opened,  the  procession  com- 
menced to  stream  past  the  catafalque. 

By  ten  o'clock  it  was  computed  that  one  hundred  persons  to  the 
minute  were  passing  the  body,  and  at  noon  over  40,000  people  had 
already  taken  a  last  glance  at  the  face  of  the  great  statesman.  Sir 
William  Vernon  Harcourt,  the  liberal  leader  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, who  arrived  at  noon,  was  greatly  moved,  so  great  was  the 
popular  demonstration  of  sorrow. 

As  the  afternoon  advanced  the  unending  stream  lengthened. 
About  two  thousand  policemen  were  engaged  in  guiding  the  people, 
and  by  three  o'clock  75,000  persons  had  passed  the  coffin. 

On  May  28th  the  body  of  England's  greatest  man,  William  E. 
Gladstone,  was  laid  in  the  Valhalla  of  his  race.  Military  pomp 
and  the  outward  trappings  of  pageantry  were  absent,  but  the  cere- 
mony was  glorified  by  the  homage  of  his  greatest  surviving  con- 
temporaries and  by  the  sentiment  of  universal  reverence  expressed 
in  the  outspoken  gratitude  of  a  free  people.  His  grave  is  beside 
that  of  his  life-long  adversary,  Benjamin  Disraeli  (Lord  Beacons- 
field),  whose  marble  effigy  looks  down  upon  it,  decked  with  the 
regalia  which  Gladstone  had  refused. 

Whatever  meagreness  in  grandeur  there  was  during  the  lying  in 
state  there  was  none  about  the  funeral.  In  every  respect  that  cere- 
mony was  impressive,  lofty,  dignified.  This  was  fitting  to  the 
funeral  of  one  who,  after  all,  was  essentially  civilian.  There  were 
no  nodding  plumes,  no  mighty  procession,  for  the  coffin  was  carried 
on  a  simple  funeral  carriage  and  the  distance  between  Westminster 
Hall  and  Westminster  Abbey  in  but  a  few  steps.  But  the  people, 
as  during  the  lying  in  state,  were  an  impressive  sight.  Every  spot 
on  which  the  eye  rested  swarmed  with  human  beings.  They  peeped 
at  you  from  the  windows  of  the  hospital,  from  the  roofs  of  houses. 


456  Mr.  Gladstone's  Death  and  Obsequies. 

Everybody  nearly  was  dressed  in  black,  and  there  was  the  same 
unbroken  sombreness  in  demeanor  which  has  been  so  characteristic 
of  the  past  few  days.  The  unbroken  silence  of  this  vast  multitude 
added  immensely  to  one's  sense  of  the  magnitude  and  solemnity  of 
the  occasion. 

The  procession  of  the  members  of  Parliament  formed  in  the 
House  of  Commons  as  early  as  9.30  o'clock.  The  chamber  pre- 
sented an  appearance  at  once  curious  and  impressive.  There  must 
have  been  four  hundred  members  present,  and  considering  the 
holidays  have  already  begun,  this  was  marvellous.  It  is  said  not  a 
single  Liberal  member  was  absent,  except  invalids,  and  Gladstone's 
opponents,  the  Tories,  were  also  fully  represented.  The  Irish  mem- 
bers were  some  forty  strong,  a  very  considerable  number,  considering 
that  it  is  vacation  time  and  the  present  conditions  of  the  party. 

Mr.  Dillon  sat  in  his  usual  place,  and  close  beside  him  were  the 
men  who  are  most  closely  associated  with  his  leadership.  Among 
them  was  Mr.  Blake,  one  of  the  most  impressive  figures  of  the 
day,  with  his  tall  stature,  clear-cut  features  and  look  of  distinction. 
None  of  the  Parnellites  were  present,  nor  was  Mr.  Healy.  Every- 
body in  the  House  was  in  the  deepest  black,  and  the  House  looked 
to  some  extent  like  a  funeral  chamber.  There  was  just  one  bit  of 
color.  The  sergeant-at-arms  had  around  his  neck  a  silver-colored 
tie,  with  white  bows,  a  curious  and  an  unusual  addition  to  his 
uniform. 

When  the  Speaker  entered  there  was  a  surprise  in  store  for  the 
House,  which  saw  its  sombreness  at  least  broken  by  a  splendid  bit 
of  color,  for  the  Speaker  appeared  for  the  first  time  in  our  recollec- 
tion in  full,  gorgeous  robes.  He  wore  a  black  gown,  richly  em- 
broidered with  gold  lace,  a  garment  that  seemed  at  once  sternly 
simple  and  brilliantly  rich,  and  that  added  greatly  to  the  impres- 
siveness  of  his  handsome  face  and  fine  figure.  After  considerable 
delay  the  Speaker  rose,  and  at  once  every  member  was  on  his  feet, 
and  then  the  sergeant-at-arms,  placing  his  mace  on  his  shoulder, 
with  the  chaplain  and  attendants,  formed  into  procession,  followed 
by  the  members  present  and  the  late  Government  and  members  of 
the  Privy  Council,  a  dignity  frequently  bestowed  upon  political 
supporters  whom  the  Government  find  it  impossible  to  otherwise 
reward. 


Mr.  Gladstone's  Death  and  Obsequies.  457 

The  Irishmen  had  resolved  to  walk  by  themselves,  so  as  to  dis- 
tinguish their  group  Irom  the  rest.  Mr.  Dillon  was  to  give  them 
the  signal,  and  just  as  the  other  members  were  leaving  the  House 
he  rose  from  his  place  and  the  Irish  members  followed  his  lead. 
The  procession  slowly  wended  its  way  to  Westminster  Hall,  where 
the  coffin  lay,  still  giving  that  impression  of  smallness,  remoteness 
and  loneliness  in  the  vast  hall.  There  was  a  look  for  a  second  as 
the  members  passed  the  coffin,  but  no  pause,  and  slowly  but  regu- 
larly the  procession  passed  on  until  it  got  into  open  air  again. 
Then  the  great  majority  of  the  members  put  on  their  hats ;  but 
some  of  the  Irishmen,  and  especially  those  who  walked  in  the  first 
four  with  Mr.  Dillon,  kept  uncovered  throughout,  as  more  in 
accord  with  the  sense  of  pathos  and  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion. 
Some  few  of  the  English  members  did  the  same  thing. 

The  crowd  pressed  close  to  see  the  procession  as  it  passed,  but 
whatever  he  felt,  the  Londoner  held  his  tongue.  The  same 
impressive,  solemn,  unbroken  silence  continued  as  the  processioi 
wound  its  way  onward. 

The  procession  moved  in  the  following  order  : 

Four  heralds  in  court  dress  bearing  the  arms. 

The  Speaker,  the  Right  Hon.  William  Court  Gully ;  clerks  and 
officers  of  the  House  of  Commons,  in  robes  and  wigs,  carrying  the 
mace. 

Four  hundred  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  marching 
four  abreast  and  wearing  frock  coats  and  high  hats,  with  the  solitary 
and  conspicuous  exception  of  John  Burns,  the  labor  leader,  who 
wore  his  usual  derby  hat  and  short  coat. 

Four  heralds  escorting  half  a  dozen  privy  councillors,  not  mem- 
bers of  Parliament. 

More  heralds  ushering  the  officers  of  the  House  of  Lords. 

The  Lord  Chancellors  in  their  robes,  with  a  mace  bearer. 

Two  hundred  members  of  the  House  of  Lords,  attired  like  the 
members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  with  the  exception  of  the 
bishops,  who  wore  robes. 

Then  came  a  group  of  members  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  last  Ministry, 
followed  by  representatives  of  various  royal  families  and  the  foreign 
Ambassadors,  including  Colonel  John  Hay,  the  United  States 
Ambassador. 


458  Mr.  Gladstone's  Death  and  Obsequies. 

Next  the  Duke  of  Cambridge  and  the  Duke  of  Connaught, 
escorted  by  equerries,  and  the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  representing  the 
Queen. 

Then  came  the  funeral  car,  plainly  draped  with  black  and  drawn 
by  two  horses,  preceded  by  the  Earl  Marshal  of  the  Kingdom,  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk,  the  supporters  of  the  pall  walking  beside  the 
car. 

After  the  car  walked  Stephen  Gladstone,  the  chief  mourner,  and 
the  near  relatives  and  friends. 

The  only  sound  that  broke  the  silence  while  the  cortege  passed 
was  a  broken  voice  which  shouted  :  "  God  give  ye  rest,  old  man  !" 
In  the  meanwhile  the  tolling  of  the  Abbey  bell  had  notified  the 
waiting  assemblage  within  the  edifice  that  the  procession  was 
approaching. 

Mrs.  Gladstone,  supported  on  the  arms  of  her  sons,  Herbert 
and  Stephen,  and  other  members  of  the  family  were  grouped  about 
the  grave.  The  dean  read  the  appointed  sentence  committing  the 
body  to  the  earth,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  pronounced 
the  benediction. 

Mrs.  Gladstone  stood  bravely,  with  great  composure,  throughout 
the  service.  Her  face  was  lifted  upward  and  her  lips  were  moving 
as  though  repeating  the  lines  of  the  service.  She  also  kept  stand- 
ing during  the  only  official  feature  of  the  service,  "The  Procla- 
mation by  Gartar  of  the  Style  of  the  Deceased,"  as  the  official  pro- 
gramme had  it.  The  Gartar  enumerated  the  various  offices  which 
Mr.  Gladstone  had  held  in  his  lifetime,  beginning  with  "Some- 
time Privy  Councillor"  and  ending  "Envoy  Extraordiaary  to  the 
Ionian  Islands." 

The  organ  then  played  the  "  Dead  March"  in  "Saul."  Finally 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  Duke  of  York  and  other  pall-bearers 
shook  hands  with  Mrs.  Gladstone,  the  mourners  denied  past  the 
grave,  taking  a  last  view  of  the  coffin,  and,  when  they  had  been 
escorted  down  the  nave  to  the  entrance,  the  people  slowly  departed. 
Memorial  services  in  honor  of  Mr.  Gladstone  were  held  all  over 
England. 

The  ceremony  in  the  case  of  the  House  of  Lords  was  practically 
the  same.  The  Lord  Chancellor,  who  is  the  Speaker  of  that 
assembly,  unlike  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  was  not 


Mr.  Gladstone's  Death  and  Obsequies.  459 

in  full  dress.  He  wore  his  great  wig,  and  the  sergeant-at-arms 
carried  the  brazen  mace,  the  emblem  of  royal  authority ;  and  there 
was  the  usual  retinue  of  pursebearer  and  trainbearer,  and  other 
officials  that  form  his  little  court. 

The  attendance  of  peers  was  on  as  great  a  scale  as  that  of  the 
Commoners.  This  was  wonderful  testimony  to  the  universality  of 
grief  over  Mr.  Gladstone's  death,  as  he  was  not  a  favorite  with  that 
body,  and  his  very  last  speech  in  the  House  of  Commons  was  de- 
livered in  opposition  to  their  claims.  The  pall-bearers,  who  walked 
on  each  side  of  the  coffin,  were  perhaps  the  personages  who 
attracted  the  most  attention  during  the  day. 

The  sight  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  his  son  and  heir  doing 
honor  to  the  leader  of  the  great  popular  Liberal  forces  was  suffi- 
cient to  excite  comment  and  curiosity,  but,  in  addition,  the  leaders 
of  the  Tory  party,  in  both  houses  of  Parliament,  were  joined  in 
the  same  homage.  Lord  Salisbury  was  a  picturesque  figure  in  his 
way — massive  in  height,  still  more  massive  in  weight  and  heavily 
stooped,  he  added  to  the  impressiveness  of  his  massiveness  and  to 
the  curiousness  of  his  appearance  by  wearing  a  small  black-velvet 
skullcap. 

A  country  with  such  a  vast  system  of  class  distinction  and  old 
institutions  as  England  cannot  be  without  picturesqueness  or  differ- 
ence or  color  on  ever  so  studiously  simple  an  occasion  as  this. 
Several  times  the  eye  was  caught  by  the  sight  of  a  beautiful  patch 
of  color;  choir-boys  dressed  in  scarlet  tunics,  gorgeous  footmen 
with  powdered  hair  and  other  indications  of  this  land  of  opulence, 
magnificence  and  caste ;  but  the  prevalent  color  was  sombre. 

The  abbey  was  filled  in  most  parts,  though  there  was  no  over- 
crowding, and  there  was  something  almost  oppressive  in  those  tre- 
mendous rows  of  women  all  dressed  in  the  same  deep  universal 
black — black  gowns,  black  jackets,  black  hats,  black  feathers,  black 
gloves.  There  was  something  almost  like  relief  in  the  white  sur- 
plices of  the  ecclesiastics.  Through  the  dim-lighted  nave  the  dif- 
ferent processions  took  their  slow,  solemn  way. 

In  due  order  the  two  houses  of  Parliament  faced  each  other  in 
the  galleries  erected  for  the  occasion,  and  in  the  space  left  between 
them  was  the  open  grave  in  the  floor  of  the  Abbey,  waiting  to 
receive  its  illustrious  occupant.  There  was  something  that  resembled 


460  Mr.  Gladstone's  Death  and  Obsequies. 

a  great  theatrical  performance  in  this  arrangement  of  the  two  houses 
and  the  spectators  in  their  long  tiers  of  galleries  around  the  grave. 
But  the  sombreness  of  colors,  the  dim  light  that  came  in  through 
the  windows  and  the  hosts  of  ecclesiastics  soon  banished  this  idea, 
and  the  whole  ceremonial  was  solemn,  beautiful.  In  the  centre  of 
each  gallery  was  a  presiding  officer  with  the  mace  beside  him.  Each 
speaker  seemed  to  be  a  sort  of  core  to  the  galleries,  its  central  most 
prominent  figure.  Down  below  one  caught  a  sight  of  the  pall- 
bearers as  they  stood  around  the  small  and  simple  coffin. 

Looking  a  little  closer  you  saw  a  number  of  people  that  you 
began  slowly  to  recognize  as  members  of  the  bereaved  family. 
There  was  a  thrill  and  a  hush,  though  no  spoken  exclamation  as 
the  devoted  wife  walked  to  her  place,  leaning  on  the  arms  of  her 
two  sons — one,  Stephen,  the  rector  of  his  ancestral  home,  Hawarden ; 
the  other,  Henry,  an  East  Indian  merchant. 

Behind  them  came  Herbert  Gladstone,  the  only  son  who  has 
adopted  a  political  career,  and  in  his  charge  were  a  number  of 
young  people,  boys  and  girls,  who  looked  sweet  and  touching  in 
their  mourning,  and  with  the  innocent  interest  in  all  that  was 
going  on. 

The  choir  of  Westminster  Abbey  is  fine  at  any  time,  but  for  this 
occasion  special  arrangement  had  been  made,  and  there  was  a 
recruiting  of  the  best  voices  from  several  other  choirs  of  the  metro* 
polis.  The  result  was  to  win  general  praise  for  the  beauty,  har- 
mony and  perfection  of  the  music.  The  selection  of  hymns  for  the 
occasion  was  according  to  the  tastes  of  the  Grand  Old  Man  himself. 
It  is  known  that  Newman's  hymn,  "  Praise  to  Holiest  in  the 
Highest/3  was  his  favorite,  and  this  hymn  found  a  prominent  place 
in  the  music  of  the  day.  " Rock  of  Ages"  was  also  one  of  Glad- 
stone's favorites,  so  much  so  that  he  made  a  Latin  translation 
of  it  which  was  printed  in  the  programme  beside  the  English 
words. 

The  musical  selections  were  typical  of  all  such  ceremonies,  that 
is  to  say,  there  was  a  mixture  of  inevitable  sadness,  death  and 
parting,  of  the  joy  founded  on  hopes  of  a  blessed  immortality.  At 
one  time  the  music  fell  to  a  low,  solemn,  tender  whisper;  then  again 
you  heard  the  trombones  resound  through  the  vast  building,  giving 
a  sense  of  joy  and  exaltation,  of  final  victory  over  death  and  corrup- 


Mr  irladstoTie  s  D^aiti  ind  Obsequies.  461 

tion  that  nad  a  most  startling  and  at  the  same  time  most  thrilling 
effect  upon  the  imagination. 

There  was  no  sermon.  It  would  have  been  too  small  in  the 
great  proportions  of  the  ceremony  and  surroundings.  The  great 
Epistle  of  St.  Paul  with  its  final  peau  of  victory  over  death  was 
read ;  but  the  voice  of  the  reader  was  partially  lost  in  the  vast  space 
and  those  always  impressive  words  sounded  almost  weak  and  intru- 
sive. When  the  lesson  had  been  read  and  the  last  hymn,  "Oh, 
God !  Our  Help  in  Ages  Past,"  had  been  sung,  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  in  his  loud,  almost  harsh,  voice,  pronounced  the  final 
benediction. 

The  "  Dead  March  "  from  "  Saul "  and  the  "  Messe  Solennelle" 
of  Schubert  were  played  as  the  congregation  slowly  wended  its 
way  out.  The  crowds  were  there,  and  the  sunshine  and  the 
already  impatient  throb  of  the  great  metropolis,  to  resume  its  fev- 
erish, hurried  life ;  and  so  the  great  Legislature,  in  which  Glad- 
stone had  reigned  as  a  foremost  figure  for  nearly  sixty  years,  paid 
its  last  farewell. 

The  pathos  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  funeral  centered  around  the  grief- 
stricken  figure  of  his  aged  and  devoted  wife.  The  shock  of  his 
death  lightened  for  a  time  at  least  the  clouds  that  had  begun  to 
darken  her  mind,  and  spared  her  the  pain  of  realizing  her  beloved 
husband's  sufferings. 

A  moment  of  sublime  emotion,  bringing  tears  to  all  eyes  in  that 
unique  gathering  of  princes,  divines  and  statesmen  gathered  round 
the  grave  of  England's  greatest  citizen,  was  when  the  widow  sup- 
ported lovingly  by  her  two  weeping  sons,  tottered  feebly,  her  frame 
shaken  with  heart-broken  sobs,  to  the  brink  of  the  grave,  and  cast 
a  long,  lingering  look  of  anguish  at  the  casket  containing  the 
mortal  remains  of  her  illustrious  husband. 

When  the  stricken  woman  turned  away  and  sank  back  into  her 
chair,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  inspired  by  one  of  those  touches  of  fine 
feeling  which  account  so  largely  for  his  popularity,  took  Mrs. 
Gladstone's  hand  in  his,  and,  with  a  whispered  word  of  consola- 
tion, kissed  it  reverently.  The  other  pall-bearers  all  followed  this 
manly  example,  providing  a  spontaneous  demonstration  of  sym- 
pathy more  affecting  than  any  state  pageant  ever  devised. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

MR.  GLADSTONE  ON  THE  ARMENIAN  QUESTION. 

Not  a  Party  Question — The  Resolutions — Dreadful  Words  to  Speak — Witnesses 
to  the  Massacres —Report  of  Dr.  Dillon — Plunder,  Murder,  Rape,  and 
Torture — Responsibility  of  the  Turkish  Government — The  Turk  Ought  to 
March  Out  of  Armenia — What  is  to  Become  of  Christians  in  the  Turkish 
Empire  ? — Sad  and  Terrible  Story. 

IT  will  interest  the  reader  to  peruse  some  of  Mr.  Gladstone's 
famous  speeches  in  the  exact  form  in  which  they  were  deliv- 
ered. We  have  therefore  made  selections  from  his  addresses 
which  not  only  embrace  the  most  important  subjects  and  such  as 
occupied  public  thought  and  attention  at  the  time,  but  have  also 
endeavored  to  make  such  selections  as  will  show  the  variety  of 
topics  which  he  discussed  and  the  masterly  manner  in  which  he 
treated  them. 

A  meeting  was  held  in  the  Town  Hall,  Chester,  England,  on  the 
6th  of  August,  1895,  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  claims  of  the 
Armenians  in  Turkey.  The  assembly  room  at  the  Town  Hall  was 
crowded  to  excess,  and  many  thousands  of  persons  had  to  be  refused 
admission. 

The  Duke  of  Westminster  presided,  and  among  those  present 
were  a  great  number  of  members  of  Parliament. 

Mr.  Gladstone,  who  was  received  with  prolonged  cheers,  said  : — 
My  Lord  Duke,  my  Lords,  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen, — My  first 
observation  shall  be  a  repetition  of  what  has  already  been  said  by 
the  noble  Duke,  who  has  assured  you  that  this  meeting  is  not  a 
meeting  called  in  the  interests  of  any  party  (hear,  hear),  or  having 
the  smallest  connection  with  those  differences  of  opinion  which 
naturally  and  warrantably  in  this  free  country  will  spring  up  in  a 
complex  state  of  affairs,  dividing  us  on  certain  questions  man  from 
man.  (Hear,  hear.) 

But,  my  Lord  Duke,  it  is  satisfactory  to  observe  that  freedom  of 
opinion  and  even  these  divisions  themselves  upon  certain  questions 
give  increased  weight  and  augmented  emphasis  to  the  concurrence 
462 


Mr.  Gladstone  on  the  Armenian  Question.  463 

of  the  people  to  the  cordial  agreement  of  the  whole  nation  in  these 
matters  where  the  broad  principles  of  common  humanity  and  com- 
mon justice  prevail.  (Cheers.) 

It  is  perfectly  true  that  the  Government  whose  deeds  we  have 
to  impeach  is  a  Mahometan  Government,  and  it  is  perfectly  true 
that  the  sufferers  under  those  outrages,  under  those  afflictions,  are 
Christian  sufferers.  The  Mahometan  subjects  of  Turkey  suffer  a 
great  deal,  but  what  they  suffer  is  only  in  the  way  of  the  ordinary 
excesses  and  defects  of  an  intolerably  bad  Government — perhaps 
the  worst  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  (Hear,  hear.)  That  which  we 
have  now  to  do  is,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  the  opening  up  of  an  entirely 
new  chapter.  It  is  not  a  question  of  indifferent  laws  indifferently 
enforced.  It  is  not  a  question  of  administrative  violence  and  ad- 
ministrative abuse.  It  cuts  further  and  goes  to  the  root  of  all  that 
concerns  human  life  in  its  elementary  conditions. 

But  this  I  will  say,  that  if,  instead  of  dealing  with  the  Turkish 
Government,  and  impeaching  it  for  its  misdeeds  towards  Chris- 
tian subjects,  we  were  dealing  with  a  Christian  Government  that 
was  capable  of  similar  misdeeds  towards  Mahometan  subjects,  our 
indignation  ought  to  be  not  less,  but  greater,  than  it  is  now. 
(Cheers.)  Well,  I  will  take  the  liberty  of  reading  a  resolution 
which  has  been  placed  in  my  hands,  and  which  seems  to  me  to  ex- 
press with  firmness,  but  with  moderation,  the  opinions  which  I  am 
very  confident  this  meeting  will  entertain,  and  this  meeting,  in  en- 
tertaining such  opinions,  is  but  the  representative  of  the  country  at 
large.  (Cheers.) 

Allow  me  to  go  further  and  to  say  that  the  country  at  large  in 
entertaining  these  ideas  is  only  a  representative  of  civilized  hu- 
manity, and  I  will  presume  to  speak  on  the  ground,  in  part,  of 
personal  knowledge;  I  will  presume  to  speak  of  the  opinions  and 
sympathies  that  are  entertained  in  that  part  which  is  most  remote 
from  Armenia — I  mean  among  our  own  Transatlantic  brethren  of 
the  United  States.  If  possible,  the  sentiment  in  America  enter- 
tained on  the  subject  of  these  recent  occurrences  is  even  more  vivid 
and  even  stronger,  if  it  can  be,  than  that  which  beats  in  the  hearts 
of  the  people  of  this  country. 

The  terms  of  the  resolution  are  as  follows: 

"That  this  meeting  expresses  its  conviction  that  her  Majesty's 


464  Mr.  Gladstone  on  the  Armenian  Question. 

Government  will  have  the  cordial  support  of  the  entire  nation, 
without  distinction  of  party,  in  any  measures  which  it  may  adopt 
for  securing  to  the  people  of  Turkish  Armenia  such  reforms  in  the 
administration  of  that  province  as  shall  provide  effective  guarantees 
for  the  safety  of  life,  honor,  religion,  and  property,  and  that  no 
reforms  can  be  effective  which  are  not  placed  under  the  continuous 
control  of  the  Great  Powers  of  Europe."  (Cheers.) 

That  means,  without  doubt,  the  great  Powers  of  Europe,  all  who 
choose  to  combine,  and  those  great  Powers  which  happily  have  com- 
bined and  have  already,  in  my  judgment,  pledged  their  honor,  as 
well  as  their  power,  to  the  attainment  of  the  object  we  have  in 
view.  (Cheers.) 

Now,  it  was  my  fate,  I  think  some  six  or  more  months  ago,  to 
address  a  very  limited  number,  not  a  public  assembly,  but  a  limited 
number  of  Armenian  gentlemen,  and  gentlemen  interested  in 
Armenia,  on  this  subject ;  and  at  that  time  I  ventured  to  point  out 
that  one  of  our  duties  was  to  avoid  premature  judgments. 

There  was  no  authoritative  and  impartial  declaration  before  the 
world  at  that  period  on  the  subject  of  what  is  known  as  the  Sassoun 
massacre ;  that  massacre  to  which  the  noble  duke  has  alluded,  and 
with  respect  to  which,  horrible  as  that  massacre  was,  one  of  the 
most  important  witnesses  in  this  case  declares  that  it  is  thrown  into 
the  shade,  and  has  become  pale  and  ineffective  by  the  side  of  the 
unspeakable  horrors  which  are  being  enacted  from  month  to  mouth, 
from  week  to  week,  and  day  to  day,  in  the  different  provinces  of 
Armenia.  (Cheers.) 

It  was  a  duty  to  avoid  premature  judgment,  and  I  think  it  was 
avoided.  There  was  a  great  reserve ;  but  at  last  the  engine  of  dis- 
passionate inquiry  was  brought  to  bear,  and  then  it  was  found  that 
another  duty,  very  important  in  general  in  these  cases,  really  in 
this  particular  instance  had  no  particular  place  at  all,  and  though  it 
is  a  duty  to  avoid  exaggeration — a  most  sacred  duty — it  is  a  duty 
that  has  little  or  no  place  in  the  case  before  us,  because  it  is  too 
well  known  that  the  powers  of  language  hardly  suffice  to  describe 
what  has  been  and  is  being  done,  and  that  exaggeration,  if  we  were 
ever  so  much  disposed  to  it,  is  in  such  a  case  really  beyond  our 
power.  (Cheers. ) 

Those  are  dreadful  words  to  speak.     It  is  a  painful  office  to  per- 


Mr.  Gladstone  on  the  Armenian  Question.  465 

form,  and  nothing  but  a  strong  sense  of  duty  could  gather  us 
together  between  these  walls  or  could  induce  a  man  of  my  age,  and 
a  man  who  is  not  wholly  without  other  difficulties  to  contend  with^ 
to  resign  for  the  moment  that  repose  and  quietude  which  are  the 
last  of  many  great  earthly  blessings  remaining  to  him,  in  order  to 
invite  you  to  enter  into  a  consideration  of  this  questson — I  will  not 
say  in  order  to  invite  you  to  allow  yourselves  to  be  flooded  with 
the  sickening  details  that  it  involves. 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  lead  you  into  that  dreadful  field,  but  I 
make  this  appeal  to  you.  I  do  hope  that  every  one  of  you  will  for 
himself  and  herself  endeavor,  in  such  a  degree  as  your  position  may 
allow  of  you,  to  endeavor  to  acquire  some  acquaintance  with  them 
(hear,  hear),  because  I  know  that,  when  I  say  that  a  case  of  this 
kind  puts  exaggeration  out  of  the  question,  I  am  making  a  very 
broad  assertion,  which  would  in  most  cases  be  violent,  which  would 
in  all  ordinary  cases  be  unwarrantable. 

But  those  who  will  go  through  the  process  I  have  described,  or 
even  a  limited  portion  of  the  process,  will  find  that  the  words  are 
not  too  strong  for  the  occasion.  (Cheers.)  What  witnesses  ought 
we  to  call  before  us?  I  should  be  disposed  to  say  that  it  matters 
very  little  what  witnesses  you  call.  So  far  as  the  character  of  the 
testimony  you  will  receive  is  concerned,  the  witnesses  are  all  agreed. 
At  the  time  that  I  have  just  spoken  of,  six  or  eight  months  ago, 
they  were  private  witnesses. 

Since  that  time,  although  we  have  not  seen  the  detailed  docu- 
ments of  public  authority,  yet  we  know  that  all  the  broader  state- 
ments which  had  been  made  up  to  that  time  and  which  have  made 
the  blood  of  this  nation  run  cold  have  been  confirmed  and  verified. 
They  have  not  been  overstated,  not  withdrawn,  not  qualified,  not 
reduced,  but  confirmed  in  all  their  breadth,  in  all  their  horrible 
substance,  in  all  their  sickening  details.  (Hear,  hear.) 

And  here  I  may  say  that  it  is  not  merely  European  witnesses 
with  whom  we  have  to  deal.  We  have  American  witnesses  also 
in  the  field,  and  the  testimony  of  the  American  witnesses  is  the 
same  as  that  of  the  European  ;  but  it  is  of  still  greater  importance 
and  for  this  reason — that  everybody  knows  that  America  has  no 
separate  or  sinister  political  interest  of  any  kind  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Levant. 

30 


466  Mr.  Gladstone  on  the  Armenian  Question. 

She  comes  into  court  perfectly  honest  and  perfectly  unsuspected, 
and  that  which  she  says  possesses  on  that  account  a  double  weight. 
I  will  not  refer  to  the  witnesses  in  particular,  as  I  have  been  told 
you  will  receive  a  statement  by  my  reverend  friend,  Canon  McColl, 
who  is  one  of  them  (cheers);  but  I  believe  they  are  absolutely 
agreed,  that  there  is  no  shade  of  difference  prevailing  among 
them. 

I  will  refer  to  the  last  of  these  witnesses,  one  whom  I  must  say 
I  am  disposed  to  name  with  honor :  it  is  Dr.  Dillon  (cheers),  whose 
name  has  appeared  within  the  last  three  or  four  days  at  the  foot  of 
an  article  of  unusual  length — Ah  !  and  good  were  the  reasons  for 
extending  it  to  an  unusual  length — in  the  Contemporary  Review. 
(Cheers.)  Perhaps  you  will  ask,  as  I  asked,  u  Who  is  Dr.  Dillon?" 
and  I  am  able  to  describe  him  to  his  honor. 

Dr.  Dillon  is  a  man  who,  as  the  special  commissioner  of  the  Daily 
Telegraph  newspaper,  some  months  ago,  with  care  and  labor,  and 
with  the  hazard  of  his  life  (hear,  hear),  went  into  Turkey,  laudably 
making  use  of  a  disguise  for  the  purpose,  and  went  into  Armenia, 
so  that  he  might  make  himself  thoroughly  master  of  the  facts. 
(Cheers.)  He  published  his  results  before  any  public  authority  had 
given  utterance  to  its  judgments,  and  those  results  which  he,  I  rather 
think,  was  the  first  to  give  to  the  world  in  a  connected  shape — at 
any  rate  he  was  very  early  in  the  field — those  results  have  been 
completely  confirmed  and  established  by  the  inquiries  of  the  dele- 
gates appointed  by  the  three  Powers — England,  France  and  Russia. 
(Cheers.) 

I  say  he  has,  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  acquired  a  title  to  be  believed, 
and  here  he  gives  us  an  account  which  bears  upon  it  all  the  marks 
of  truth,  but  which,  at  the  same  time  that  we  must  believe  it  to  be 
true,  you  would  say  is  hardly  credible.  Unhappily  some  of  those 
matters  which  are  not  credible  do,  in  this  strange  and  wayward 
world  of  ours,  turn  out  to  be  true;  and  here  it  is  hardly  credible 
that  there  can  dwell  in  the  human  form  a  spirit  of  such  intense 
and  diabolical  wickedness  as  is  unhappily  displayed  in  some  of  the 
narratives  Dr.  Dillon  has  laid  before  the  world. 

I  shall  not  quote  from  them  in  detail,  though  I  mean  to  make 
a  single  citation,  which  will  be  a  citation,  if  I  may  say  so,  rather 
of  principle  than  of  detail.  I  shall  not  quote  the  details,  but  I 


Mr.  Gladstone  on  the  Armenian  Question.  467 

will  say  to  you  that  when  you  begin  to  read  them  you  will  see  the 
truth  of  what  I  just  now  said — namely,  that  we  are  not  dealing  at 
all  with  a  common  and  ordinary  question  of  abuses  of  government 
or  the  defects  of  them.  We  are  dealing  with  something  that  goes 
far  deeper,  far  wider,  and  that  imposes  upon  us  and  upon  you  far 
heavier  obligations. 

The  whole  substance  of  this  remarkable  article — and  it  agrees, 
as  I  have  said,  with  the  testimony  of  the  other  witnesses — I  am 
quoting  it  because  it  is  the  latest — the  whole  substance  of  this 
article  may  be  summed  up  in  four  awful  words — plunder,  murder, 
rape  and  torture.  (u  Shame.")  Every  incident  turns  upon  one  or 
upon  several  of  those  awful  words.  Plunder  and  murder  you 
would  think  are  bad  enough,  but  plunder  and  murder  are  almost 
venial  by  the  side  of  the  work  of  the  ravisher  and  the  work  of  the 
torturer,  as  it  is  described  in  those  pages,  and  as  it  is  now  fully 
and  authentically  known  to  be  going  on. 

I  will  keep  my  word,  and  I  will  not  be  tempted  by — what  shall 
I  say? — the  dramatic  interest  attached  to  such  exaggeration  of 
human  action  as  we  find  here  to  travel  into  the  details  of  the  facts. 
They  are  fitter  for  private  perusal  than  they  are  for  public  discus- 
sion. I  will  not  be  tempted  to  travel  into  them;  I  will  ask  you 
for  a  moment,  any  of  you  who  have  not  yourselves  verified  the 
particulars  of  the  case,  to  credit  me  with  speaking  the  truth,  until 
I  go  on  to  consider  who  are  the  doers  of  these  deeds. 

In  all  ordinary  cases,  when  we  have  before  us  instances  of  crime, 
perhaps  of  very  horrible  crime — for  example,  there  is  a  sad  story 
in  the  papers  to-day  of  a  massacre  in  a  portion  of  China — we  at 
once  assume  that  in  all  countries,  unfortunately,  there  are  male- 
factors, there  are  plunderers  whose  deeds  we  are  going  to  consider. 

Here,  my  Lord  Duke,  it  is  nothing  of  the  kind  ;  we  have  nothing 
to  do  here  with  what  are  called  the  dangerous  classes  of  the  com- 
munity ;  it  is  not  their  proceedings  which  you  are  asked  to  con- 
sider ;  it  is  the  proceedings  of  the  Government  of  Constantinople 
and  its  agents.  (Cheers.) 

There  is  not  one  of  these  misdeeds  for  which  the  Government  of 
Constantinople  is  not  morally  responsible.  (Cheers.)  Now,  who 
are  these  agents  ?  Let  me  tell  you  very  briefly.  They  fall  into 
three  classes.  The  first  have  been  mentioned  by  the  noble  duke — 


468  Mr.  Gladstone  on  the  Armenian   Question. 

namely,  the  savage  Kurds,  who  are,  unhappily,  the  neighbors  of 
the  Armenians,  the  Armenians  being  the  representatives  of  one  of 
the  oldest  civilized  Christian  races,  and  being,  beyond  all  doubt, 
one  of  the  most  pacific,  one  of  the  most  industrious,  and  one  of  the 
most  intelligent  races  in  the  world.  (Cheers.) 

These  Kurds  are  by  them  ;  they  are  wild,  savage  clans.  There 
was  but  one  word,  my  Lord  Duke,  in  your  address  that  I  should 
have  been  disposed  to  literally  criticise,  and  it  was  the  expression 
that  fell  from  you  that  the  Sultan  had  "  organized  "  these  Kurds. 
They  are,  in  my  belief,  in  no  sense  organized — that  is  to  say,  there 
is  no  more  organization  among  them  than  is  to  be  found,  say,  in  a 
band  of  robbers ;  they  have  no  other  organization,  being  nothing 
but  a  band  of  robbers.  (Cheers.) 

These  the  Sultan  and  the  Government  at  Constantinople  have 
enrolled,  though  in  a  nominal  fashion,  not  without  military  disci- 
pline, into  pretended  cavalry  regiments  and  then  set  them  loose 
with  the  authority  of  soldiers  of  the  Sultan  to  harry  and  destroy 
the  people  of  Armenia.  (Cheers.)  Well,  these  Kurds  are  the  first 
of  the  agents  in  this  horrible  business ;  the  next  are  the  Turkish 
soldiers,  who  are  in  no  sense  behind  the  Kurds  in  their  perform- 
ances; the  third  are  the  peace  officers,  the  police  and  the  tax- 
gatherers  of  the  Turkish  Government ;  and  there  seems  to  be  a 
deadly  competition  among  all  these  classes  which  shall  most  prove 
itself  an  adept  in  the  horrible  and  infernal  work  that  is  before  them, 
but  above  them  all  and  more  guilty  than  they,  are  the  higher  officers 
of  the  Turkish  Government. 

You  will  find,  if  you  look  into  this  paper  of  Dr.  Dillon's,  that  at 
every  point  he  has  exposed  himself  to  confutation  if  what  he  says 
is  inaccurate  or  untrue.  He  gives  names,  titles,  places,  dates,  every 
particular  which  would  enable  the  Turkish  Government  to  track 
him  out  and  detect  him  and  hold  him  up  to  public  reprobation. 

You  will  never  hear  of  an  answer  from  the  Turkish  Government 
to  that  article.  That  may  be  a  bold  thing  for  me  to  say ;  but  I  am 
confident  you  will  never  hear  an  answer  from  them  which  shall 
follow  these  statements  of  Dr.  Dillon's,  based  on  his  own  personal 
experience,  through  the  details,  and  attempt  to  shake  the  fabric  of 
previously  composed  materials  which  he  has  built  up  in  the  face  of 
the  world  ! 


Mr.  Gladstone  on  the  Armenian  Question.  469 

I  think  there  are  certain  matters,  such  as  those  which  have  been 
discussed  to-day  and  discussed  in  many  other  forms,  on  which  it  is 
perfectly  possible  to  make  up  our  minds.  And  what  I  should  say 
is,  that  the  whole  position  may  be  summed  up  in  three  brief  propo- 
sitions. I  do  not  know  to  which  of  these  propositions  to  assign  the 
less  or  the  greater  importance.  It  appears  to  me  that  they  are 
probably  each  and  every  one  of  them  absolutely  indispensable.  The 
first  proposition  is  this,  You  ought  to  moderate  your  demands. 

You  ought  to  ask  for  nothing  but  that  which  is  strictly  necessary, 
and  that  possibly  according  to  all  that  we  know  of  the  proposals 
before,  the  rule  has  been  rigidly  complied  with.  I  do  not  hesitate 
to  say,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  that  the  cleanest  and  clearest  method 
of  dealing  with  this  subject,  if  we  should  have  done  it,  would  have 
been  to  tell  the  Turk  to  march  out  of  Armenia.  (Loud  cheers.) 
He  has  no  right  to  remain  there,  and  it  would  have  been  an  excel- 
lent settlement  of  the  question. 

But  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  Europe  or  even  the  three 
Powers  would  have  been  unanimous  in  seeking  after  that  end. 
Therefore,  let  us  part  with  everything  except  what  is  known  to  be 
indispensable.  Then  I  come  to  the  other  two  rules,  and  of  these  the 
first  is  that  you  should  accept  no  Turkish  promises.  (Hear,  hear.) 
They  are  absolutely  and  entirely  worthless.  They  are  worse  than 
worthless,  because  they  may  serve  to  delude  a  few  persons,  who 
without  information  or  experience,  naturally  would  suppose,  when 
promises  are  given,  that  there  is  something  like  an  intention  of  ful- 
fillment. Recollect  that  no  scheme  is  worth  having  unless  it  be 
supported  by  efficient  guarantees  entirely  outside  the  promises  of 
the  Turkish  Government.  (Applause.) 

There  is  another  word  which  I  must  speak,  and  that  is  this : 
Don't  be  too  much  afraid  if  you  hear  introduced  into  this  discussion 
a  word  that  I  admit,  in  ordinary  cases,  ought  to  be  excluded  from 
all  diplomatic  proceedings,  namely,  the  word  coercion.  Coercion  is 
a  word  perfectly  well  understood  in  Constantinople,  and  it  is  a  word 
highly  appreciated  in  Constantinople.  It  is  a  drastic  dose — (laugh- 
ter)— which  never  fails  of  its  aim  when  it  is  administered  in  that 
quarter.  (Laughter.) 

Gentlemen,  I  would  not  use  these  words  if  I  had  not  myself 
personally  had  large  and  close  experience  of  the  proceedings  of  the 


470  Mr.  Gladstone  on  the  Armenian  Question. 

Turkish  Government.  I  say,  first  make  your  case  good,  and  when 
your  case  is  made  good,  determine  that  it  shall  prevail.  (Cheers.) 
Grammar  has  something  to  do  with  this  case.  Recollect  that  while 
the  word  "  ought "  sounded  in  Constantinople,  passes  in  thin  air, 
and  has  no  force  or  solidity  whatever  attaching  to  it ;  on  the  con- 
trary, the  brother  or  sister  monosyllable,  the  word  "must"  is 
perfectly  understood — (cheers) — and  it  is  a  known  fact  supported 
by  positive  experience,  which  can  be  verified  upon  the  map  of 
Europe,  that  a  timely  and  judicious  use  of  this  word  never  fails  in 
its  effect.  (Cheers.) 

Gentlemen,  I  must  point  out  to  you  that  we  have  reached  a  very 
critical  position,  indeed.  How  are  three  great  Governments  in 
Europe,  ruling  a  population  of  more  than  two  hundred  million 
souls,  with  perhaps  eight  or  ten  times  the  population  of  Turkey, 
with  twenty  times  the  wealth  of  Turkey,  with  fifty  times  the  influ- 
ence and  power  of  Turkey,  who  have  committed  themselves  in  this 
matter  before  the  world,  I  put  it  to  you  that  if  they  recede  before 
an  irrational  resistance — and  remember  that  I  have  in  the  first 
instance  postulated  that  our  demands  should  be  reasonable — if  they 
recede  before  the  irrational  resistance  of  the  Sultan  and  the  Otto- 
man Government,  they  are  disgraced  in  the  face  of  the  world. 

Every  motive  of  duty  coincides  with  every  motive  of  self-respect, 
and,  my  Lord  Duke,  you  yourself  let  drop  a  word  which  is  unhap- 
pily not  wholly  out  of  place,  and  that  word  is  extermination. 

There  has  gone  abroad — I  don't  say  that  I  feel  myself  competent 
to  judge  the  matter,  I  don't  think  I  do,  but  there  has  gone  abroad, 
and  there  is  widely  entertained  a  belief,  that  the  recent  proceedings 
of  the  Turkish  Government  in  Armenia  particularly,  but  not  in 
Armenia  exclusively,  are  founded  upon  deliberate  determination  to 
exterminate  the  Christians  in  that  Empire.  I  hope  it  is  not  true, 
but  at  the  same  time  I  must  say  that  there  are  evidences  tending  to 
support  it — (hear,  hear) — and  the  grand  evidence  which  tends  to 
support  it  is  this :  the  perfect  infatuation  of  the  Turkish  Govern- 
ment. Now,  in  my  time  there  have  been  periods  when  Turkey 
was  ruled  by  men  of  honesty  and  ability. 

I  will  say  that,  until  about  thirty  years  ago,  you  could  trust  the 
word  of  the  Turkish  Government  as  well  as  any  Government  in 
Europe;  you  might  not  approve  of  their  proceedings,  but  you 


Mr.  Gladstone  on  the  Armenian  Question.  471 

could  trust  their  word ;  but  a  kind  of  judicial  infatuation  appears 
to  have  come  down  upon  them.  What  has  happened  in  Turkey? 
To  hear  of  this  vaunting  on  the  part  of  its  Government,  and  this 
game  of  brag  that  is  from  time  to  time  being  played,  that  it  cannot 
compromise  its  dignity,  it  cannot  waive  any  of  its  rights. 

What  would  come  of  its  rights  in  one-third  part  of  its  empire? 
Within  my  lifetime  Turkey  has  been  reduced  by  one-third  part  of 
her  territory,  and  sixteen  or  eighteen  millions  of  people,  inhabiting 
some  of  the  most  beautiful  and  formerly  most  famous  countries  in 
the  world,  who  were  under  the  Ottoman  rule,  are  now  as  free  as  we 
are.  (Cheers.) 

The  Ottoman  Government  are  as  well  aware  of  that  as  we,  and 
yet  we  find  it  pursuing  these  insane  courses.  On  the  other  hand, 
my  Lord  Duke  most  judiciously  referred  to  the  plan  of  Government 
that  was  introduced  in  the  Lebanon  about  1861,  whereby  a  reason- 
able share  of  stability  to  local  institutions  and  popular  control  has 
been  given  in  Turkey,  and  the  results  have  been  most  satisfactory. 

There  is  also  a  part  of  the  country,  although  not  a  very  large 
part,  where  something  like  local  self-government  is  permitted,  and 
it  has  been  very  hopeful  in  its  character.  But  when  we  see  these 
things — on  the  one  hand  that  these  experiments,  in  a  sense  of 
justice,  have  all  succeeded,  and  that  when  adapted  to  the  Greeks 
and  the  Bulgarians,  and  four  or  five  other  States,  have  resulted  in 
the  loss  of  those  States,  then  I  say  that  the  Turkish  Government  is 
evidently  in  such  a  state  of  infatuation  that  it  is  fain  to  believe  it 
may,  under  certain  circumstances,  be  infatuated  enough  to  scheme 
the  extermination  of  the  Christian  population. 

Well,  this  a  sad  and  terrible  story,  and  I  have  been  a  very  long 
time  in  telling  it,  but  a  very  small  part  of  it;  but  I  hope  that, 
having  heard  the  terms  of  the  resolution  that  will  be  submitted  to 
you,  you  will  agree  that  a  case  is  made  out.  (Cheers.)  I  for  one, 
for  the  sake  of  avoiding  other  complications,  would  rejoice  if  the 
Government  of  Turkey  would  come  to  its  senses.  If  only  men 
like  Friad  Pacha  and  Ali  Pacha,  who  were  in  the  Government 
of  Turkey  after  the  Crimean  War,  could  be  raised  from  the  dead 
and  could  inspire  the  Turkish  policy  with  their  spirit  and  with 
their  principles  ! 

That  is,  in  my  opinion,  what  we  ought  all  to  desire,  and  though 


472  Mr.  Gladstone  on  the  Armenian  Question. 

it  would  be  more  agreeable  to  clear  Turkey  than  to  find  her  guilty 
of  these  terrible  charges,  yet,  if  we  have  the  smallest  regard  to 
humanity,  if  we  are  sensible  at  all  of  what  is  due  to  our  own  honor, 
after  the  steps  which  have  been  taken  within  the  last  twelve  or 
eighteen  months,  we  must  interfere.  We  must  be  careful  to 
demand  no  more  than  what  is  just — but  at  least  as  much  as  is 
necessary — and  we  must  be  determined  that,  with  the  help  of  God, 
that  which  is  necessary  and  that  which  is  just  shall  be  done, 
whether  there  will  be  a  response  or  whether  there  be  none.  (Loud 
cheers.) 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

GLADSTONE  ON  THE  BEAOONSFIELD  MINISTRY.* 

Dissolution  of  Parliament — Reply  to  Opponents — A  Serious  Position — Policy  of 
the  Government — Responsible  for  Other  Countries — Turkey  a  Scandal  to 
the  World  —  Derby  and  Beaconsfield — Turkey  Encouraged  to  Go  to  War — 
Treaties  With  European  Nations — Policy  of  Austria— Worshippers  of 
Success — Treatment  of  the  Sultan — Tory  Government  to  be  Tried  by  its 
Principles. 

ENTLEMEN— When  I  last  had  the  honor  of  addressing 
you  in  this  Hall,  I  endeavored,  in  some  degree,  to  open  the 
great  case  which  I  was  in  hopes  would,  in  conformity  with 
what  I  may  call  constitutional  usage,  then  have  been  brought  at 
once  before  you.  The  arguments  which  we  made  for  a  dissolution 
were  received  with  the  usual  contempt,  and  the  Parliament  was 
summoned  to  attempt,  for  the  first  time  in  our  history,  the  regular 
business  of  a  seventh  session.  I  am  not  going  now  to  argue  on  the 
propriety  of  this  course,  because,  meeting  you  here  in  the  capital 
of  the  county  and  of  Scotland,  I  am  anxious  to  go  straight  to  the 
very  heart  of  the  matter,  and,  amidst  the  crowd  of  topics  that  rush 
upon  the  mind,  to  touch  upon  some  of  those  which  you  will  judge 
to  be  most  closely  and  most  intimately  connected  with  the  true 
merits  of  the  great  issue  that  is  before  us. 

At  last  the  dissolution  has  come,  and  I  postpone  the  considera- 
tion of  the  question  why  it  has  come,  the  question  how  it  has  come, 
on  which  there  are  many  things  to  be  said.  It  has  come,  and  you 
are  about  to  give  your  votes  upon  an  occasion  which,  allow  me  to 
tell  you,  entails  not  only  upon  me,  but  upon  you,  a  responsibility 
greater  than  you  ever  had  to  undergo.  I  believe  that  I  have  the 

*  Previous  to  the  date  of  this  address  Mr.  Gladstone  had  addressed  the  electors 
of  Midlothian  on  three  great  occasions.  He  now  opened  his  famous  Midlothian 
Campaign  in  earnest,  taking  the  Government  to  task  with  such  tremendous 
energy  as  to  force  his  convictions  upon  the  people.  The  place  of  meeting  on 
this  occasion  was  the  Music  Hall,  Edinburgh,  Mr.  Duncan  McLaren,  M.  P., 
presiding. 

473 


474  Gladstone  on  the  Beaconsfield  Ministry. 

honor  of  addressing  a  mixed  meeting,  a  meeting  principally  and 
very  largely  composed  of  freeholders  of  the  county,  but  in  which 
warm  and  decided  friends  are  freely  mingled  with  those  who  have 
not  declared  in  our  favor,  or  even  with  those  who  may  intend  to 
vote  against  us. 

Now,  Gentlemen,  let  me  say  a  word  in  the  first  place  to  those 
whom  I  must  for  the  moment  call  opponents.  I  am  not  going  to 
address  them  in  the  language  of  flattery.  I  am  not  going  to  sup- 
plicate them  for  the  conferring  of  a  favor.  I  am  not  going  to 
appeal  to  them  on  any  secondary  or  any  social  ground.  I  am 
going  to  speak  to  them  as  Scotchmen  and  as  citizens ;  I  aru  going 
to  speak  to  them  of  the  duty  that  they  owe  to  the  Empire  at  this 
moment ;  I  am  going  to  speak  to  them  of  the  condition  of  the 
Empire,  of  the  strength  of  the  Empire,  and  of  the  honor  of  the 
Empire ;  and  it  is  upon  these  issues  that  I  respectfully  ask  for 
their  support. 

I  am  glad  that,  notwithstanding  my  Scotch  blood,  and  notwith- 
standing the  association  of  my  father  and  my  grandfather  with  this 
country,  it  is  open  to  our  opponents,  if  they  like,  to  describe  me  as 
a  stranger;  because  I  am  free  to  admit  that  I  stand  here  in  conse- 
quence of  an  invitation,  and  in  consequence  of  treatment  the  most 
generous  and  the  most  gratifying  that  ever  was  accorded  to  man. 
And  I  venture  to  assure  every  one  of  my  opponents,  that  if  I  beg 
respectfully  to  have  some  credit  for  upright  motives,  that  credit  I 
at  once  accord  to  them. 

I  know^  very  well  they  are  not  accustomed  to  hear  it  given  me; 
I  know  very  well  that  in  the  newspapers  which  they  read  they  will 
find  that  violent  passion,  that  outrageous  hatred,  that  sordid  greed 
for  office,  are  the  motives,  and  the  only  motives,  by  which  I  am 
governed.  Many  of  these  papers  constitute,  in  some  sense,  their 
daily  food ;  but  I  have  such  faith  in  their  intelligence,  and  in  the 
healthiness  of  their  constitution  as  Scotchmen,  that  I  believe  that 
many  of  them  will,  by  the  inherent  vigor  of  that  constitution, 
correct  and  neutralize  the  poison  thus  administered;  will  consent 
to  meet  me  upon  equal  grounds,  and  will  listen  to  the  appeal  which 
I  make. 

The  appeal  which  I  make  to  them  is  this  :  If  my  position  here 
is  a  serious  one,  their  position  is  serious,  too.  My  allegations  have 


Gladstone  on  the  Beaconsfield  Ministry.  475 

been  before  you  for  a  length  of  time.  I  will  not  now  again  read 
to  a  Midlothian  audience  the  letter  in  which  I  first  accepted  this 
candidature.  By  every  word  of  that  letter  I  abide;  in  support  of 
every  allegation  which  that  letter  contains,  I  am  ready  to  bring 
detailed  and  conclusive  proof.  These  allegations — I  say  to  you, 
Gentlemen,  to  that  portion  of  my  audience — these  allegations  are 
of  the  most  serious  character.  I  admit,  as  freely  as  you  can  urge? 
that  if  they  be  unfounded,  then  my  responsibility — nay,  my  culpa- 
bility— before  my  country  cannot  be  exaggerated. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  these  allegations  be  true — if  it  be  true 
that  the  resources  of  Great  Britain  have  been  misused ;  if  it  be  true 
that  the  international  law  of  Europe  has  been  broken  ;  if  it  be  true 
that  the  law  of  this  country  has  been  broken ;  if  it  be  true  that  the 
good  name  of  this  land  has  been  tarnished  and  defaced ;  if  it  be 
true  that  its  condition  has  been  needlessly  aggravated  by  measures 
both  useless,  and  wanton,  and  mischievous  in  themselves — then 
your  responsibility  is  as  great  as  mine.  For  I  fully  admit  that  in 
1874  you  incurred  no  great  or  special  responsibility. 

You  were  tired  of  the  Liberal  Government ;  you  were  dissatis- 
fied with  them.  [Cries  of  "  No,  no  !  "]  Oh,  I  beg  pardon  ;  I  am 
addressing  my  opponents.  Scotchmen,  I  believe,  as  much  as 
Englishmen,  like  plain  speaking,  and  I  hope  I  have  given  you 
some  proof  that  if  that  be  your  taste  I  endeavor  to  meet  it  as  well 
as  I  can ;  and  I  thank  you  heartily  for  the  manner  in  which,  by 
your  kindly  attention,  you  have  enabled  me  to  say  what  I  think  is 
the  truth,  whether  it  be  palatable  or  whether  it  be  not. 

Now  the  great  question  which  we  have  been  debating  for  the  last 
three  or  four  years — for  I  do  not  carry  back  the  pith  of  what  I 
have  principally  to  say  to  the  six  years  of  the  Government — is  the 
question  of  the  policy  which  has  been  pursued  during  that  time; 
most  especially  by  far  the  policy  of  the  last  two  years,  and  the 
effect  of  that  policy  upon  the  condition  of  the  country,  upon  the 
legislation  of  the  country,  upon  the  strength  of  the  Empire,  and, 
above  all,  upon  the  honor  of  the  Empire.  I  am  now  going  to  com- 
pare the  conduct  of  the  present  Government,  which  is  commended 
to  you  as  masterly  in  forethought  and  sagacity,  and  truly  English 
in  spirit — I  am  going  to  compare  it  with  the  conduct  of  the  last 
Government,  and  to  lay  before  you  the  proceedings  of  the  results. 


476  Gladstone  on  the  Beaconsfield  Ministry. 

It  so  happens  that  their  histories  are  a  not  inconvenient  means  of 
comparison. 

England,  as  you  are  aware,  has  been  involved  in  many  guaran- 
tees. I  said  England — do  not  be  shocked ;  it  is  the  shortest  word 
— Great  Britain  or  the  United  Kingdom  is  what  one  ought  to  say 
The  United  Kingdom — the  British  Empire  has  been  and  is  in~ 
volved  in  many  guarantees  for  the  condition  of  other  countries. 
Among  others,  we  were  involved,  especially  since  the  Peace  of 
Paris,  but  also  before  the  Peace  of  Paris,  in  a  guarantee  for  Turkey, 
aiming  to  maintain  its  integrity  and  its  independence;  and  we  were 
involved  in  another  guarantee  for  Belgium,  aiming  to  maintain  its 
integrity  and  its  independence.  In  the  time  of  the  present  Govern, 
ment  the  integrity  and  the  independence  of  Turkey  were  menaced — 
menaced  by  the  consequences  of  rank,  festering  corruption  from 
within. 

In  the  time  of  the  late  Government  the  integrity  and  independ- 
ence of  Belgium  were  not  less  seriously  menaced.  We  had  been 
living  in  perfect  harmony  and  friendship  with  two  great  Military 
States  of  Europe — with  Prussia  and  with  France.  France  and 
Prussia  came  into  conflict,  and  at  the  moment  of  their  coming  into 
conflict  a  document  was  revealed  to  us  which  the  Ministers  of  those 
two  States  had  had  in  their  hands.  Whoever  was  its  author,  who- 
ever was  its  promoter,  that  is  no  affair  of  mine — it  is  due  to  Prince 
Bismarck  to  say  that  he  was  the  person  who  brought  it  to  light — 
but  they  had  in  their  hands  an  instrument  of  a  formal  character, 
touching  a  subject  that  was  considered  and  entertained.  And  that 
bad  instrument  was  an  instrument  for  the  destruction  of  the  free- 
dom, independence  and  integrity  of  Belgium.  Could  there  be  a 
graver  danger  to  Europe  than  that  ? 

Here  was  a  State — not  like  Turkey,  the  scandal  of  the  world,  and 
the  danger  of  the  world  from  misgovernment,  and  from  the  horri- 
ble degradation  it  inflicted  upon  its  subject  races — but  a  country 
which  was  a  marvel  to  all  Europe  for  the  peaceful  exercise  of  the 
rights  of  freedom,  and  for  progress  in  all  the  arts  and  all  pursuits 
that  tend  to  make  mankind  good  and  happy.  And  this  country, 
having  nothing  but  its  weakness  that  could  be  urged  against  it, 
with  its  four  or  five  millions  of  people,  was  deliberately  pointed  out 
by  somebody  and  indicated  to  be  destroyed,  to  be  offered  up  as  a 


Gladstone  on  the  Beaconsfield  Ministry.  477 

sacrifice  to  territorial  lust  by  one  or  other  of  those  Ministers  of 
Powers  with  whom  we  were  living  in  close  friendship  and  affection. 

We  felt  called  upon  to  enlist  ourselves  on  the  part  of  the  British 
nation  as  advocates  and  as  champions  of  the  integrity  and  inde- 
pendence of  Belgium.  And  if  we  had  gone  to  war,  we  should  have 
gone  to  war  for  freedom,  we  should  have  gone  to  war  for  public 
right,  we  should  have  gone  to  war  to  save  human  happiness  from 
being  invaded  by  tyrannous  and  lawless  power.  This  is  what  1 
call  a  good  cause,  Gentlemen.  And  though  I  detest  war,  and  there 
are  no  epithets  too  strong,  if  you  could  supply  me  with  them,  that 
I  will  not  endeavor  to  heap  upon  its  head — in  such  a  war  as  that, 
while  the  breath  in  my  body  is  continued  to  me,  I  am  ready  to  en- 
gage. I  am  ready  to  support  it,  I  am  ready  to  give  all  the  help 
and  aid  I  can  to  those  who  carry  this  country  into  it. 

Well,  Gentlemen,  pledged  to  support  the  integrity  and  independ- 
ence of  Belgium,  what  did  we  do  ?  We  proposed  to  Prussia  to 
enter  into  a  new  and  solemn  Treaty  with  us  to  resist  the  French 
Empire,  if  the  French  Empire  attempted  to  violate  the  sanctity 
of  freedom  in  Belgium ;  and  we  proposed  to  France  to  enter  into 
a  similar  Treaty  with  us  to  pursue  exactly  the  same  measures 
against  Prussia,  if  Prussia  should  make  the  like  nefarious  attempt. 
And  we  undertook  that,  in  concert  with  the  one,  or  in  concert 
with  the  other,  whichever  the  case  might  be,  we  would  pledge 
all  the  resources  of  this  Empire,  and  carry  it  into  war,  for  the 
purpose  of  resisting  mischief  and  maintaining  the  principles  of 
European  law  and  peace. 

I  ask  you  whether  it  is  not  ridiculous  to  apply  the  doctrine  or 
the  imputation,  if  it  be  an  imputation,  that  we  belong  to  the  "Man- 
chester School,"  or  to  a  Peace  Party — we  who  made  these  engage- 
ments to  go  to  war  with  France  if  necessary,  or  to  go  to  war  with 
Prussia,  if  necessary,  for  the  sake  of  the  independence  of  Belgium  ? 
But  now  I  want  you  to  observe  the  upshot.  I  must  say  that,  in 
one  respect,  we  were  very  inferior  to  the  present  Government — 
very  inferior  indeed.  Our  ciphers,  our  figures,  were  perfectly  con- 
temptible. We  took  nothing  except  two  millions  of  money. 

We  knew  perfectly  well  that  what  was  required  was  an  indica- 
tion, and  that  that  indication  would  be  quite  intelligible  when  it 
was  read  in  the  light  of  the  new  treaty  engagement  which  we  were 


478  Gladstone  on  the  Beaconsfield  Ministry. 

contracting ;  and  consequently  we  asked  Parliament  to  give  us  two 
millions  of  money  for  the  sake  of  somewhat  enlarging  the  numbers 
of  available  soldiers,  and  we  were  quite  prepared  to  meet  that  con- 
tingency had  it  arrived.  The  great  man  who  directs  the  Councils 
of  the  German  Empire  (Bismarck)  acted  with  his  usual  prompti- 
tude. Our  proposal  went  to  him  by  telegraph,  and  he  answered  by 
telegraph,  "Yes,"  the  same  afternoon.  We  were  not  quite  so 
fortunate  with  France,  for  at  that  time  the  Councils  of  France 
were  under  the  domination  of  some  evil  genius  which  it  is  difficult 
to  trace,  and  needless  to  attempt  to  trace. 

There  was  some  delay  in  France — a  little  unnecessary  haggling 
— but  after  two  or  three  days  France  also  came  into  this  engage- 
ment, and  from  that  moment  the  peace  of  Belgium  was  perfectly 
secured.  When  we  had  our  integrity  and  our  independence  to 
protect,  we  took  the  measures  which  we  believed  to  be  necessary 
and  sufficient  for  that  protection ;  and  in  every  year  since  those 
measures,  Belgium,  not  unharmed  only,  but  strengthened  by  having 
been  carried  safely  and  unhurt  through  a  terrible  danger,  has  pur- 
sued her  peaceful  career,  rising  continually  in  her  prosperity  and 
happiness,  and  still  holding  out  an  example  before  all  Europe  to 
teach  the  nations  how  to  live. 

Well,  Gentlemen,  as  that  occasion  came  to  us  with  respect  to  Bel- 
gium, so  it  came  to  our  successors  with  respect  to  Turkey.  How 
did  they  manage  it?  They  thought  themselves  bound  to  maintain 
the  integrity  and  independence  of  Turkey,  and  they  were  undoubt- 
edly bound  conditionally  to  maintain  it.  I  am  not  now  going  into 
the  question  of  right,  but  into  the  question  of  the  adaptation  of  the 
means  to  an  end.  These  are  the  gentlemen  who  are  set  before  you 
as  the  people  whose  continuance  in  office  it  is  necessary  to  maintain 
to  attract  the  confidence  of  Europe;  these  are  the  gentlemen  whom 
patriotic  associations  laud  to  the  skies  as  if  they  had  a  monopoly  of 
human  intelligence  ;  these  are  the  gentlemen  who  bring  you  "  Peace 
with  Honor;"  these  are  the  gentlemen  who  go  in  special  trains  to 
Attend  august  assemblies,  and  receive  the  compliments  of  august 
statesmen ;  these  are  the  gentlemen  who  for  all  these  years  have 
been  calling  upon  you  to  pay  any  number  of  millions  that  might 
be  required  as  a  very  cheap  and  insignificant  consideration  for  the 
immense  advantages  that  you  derive  from  their  administration. 


Gladstone  on  the  Eeaconsfield  Ministry.  479 

Therefore  I  want  you  to  know,  and  I  have  shown  you,  how  we 
set  about  to  maintain  integrity  and  independence,  and  how  it  was 
maintained  then.  I  ask  how  they  have  set  about  it.  But,  Gentle- 
men, on  their  own  showing,  they  have  done  wrong.  We  have  it 
out  of  their  own  mouths.  I  won't  go  to  Lord  Derby ;  I  will  go 
to  the  only  man  whose  authority  is  higher  for  this  purpose  than 
Lord  Derby's,  namely,  Lord  Beaconsfield.  He  tells  you  plainly 
that  what  the  Government  ought  to  have  done  was  to  have  said  to 
Russia,  "  You  shall  not  invade  Turkey." 

Gentlemen,  that  course  is  intelligible.  It  is  a  guilty  course,  in 
my  opinion,  to  have  taken  up  arms  for  maintaining  the  integrity  of 
Turkey  against  her  subject  races,  or  to  take  up  arms  against  what 
the  Emperor  of  Russia  believed  to  be  a  great  honor  to  humanity  in 
going  to  apply  a  remedy  to  these  mischiefs.  But  Lord  Beacons- 
field  has  confessed  in  a  public  speech  that  the  proper  course  for  the 
Government  to  have  taken  was  to  have  planted  their  foot,  and  to 
have  said  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia:  "Cross  not  the  Danube;  if 
you  cross  the  Danube,  expect  to  confront  the  power  of  England  on 
the  southern  shore."  Now,  Gentlemen,  that  course  is  intelligible, 
perfectly  intelligible ;  and  if  you  are  prepared  for  the  responsibility 
of  maintaining  such  an  integrity,  and  such  an  independence,  irre- 
spectively of  other  considerations  against  the  Christian  races  in 
Turkey,  that  was  the  course  for  you  to  pursue. 

It  was  not  pursued,  because  the  agitation,  which  is  called  the 
Bulgarian  agitation,  was  too  inconvenient  to  allow  the  Government 
to  pursue  it,  because  they  saw  that  if  they  did  that  which  Lord 
Beaconsfield  now  tells  us  it  would  have  been  right  to  do,  the  senti- 
ment of  the  country  would  not  have  permitted  them  to  continue  to 
hold  their  office ;  and  hence  came  that  vacillation,  hence  came  that 
ineptitude  of  policy  which  they  now  endeavor  to  cover  by  hector- 
ing and  by  boasting,  and  which,  within  the  last  year  or  two,  they 
have  striven,  and  not  quite  unsuccessfully,  to  hide  from  the  eyes  of 
many  by  carrying  measures  of  violence  into  other  lands,  if  not 
against  Russia,  if  not  against  the  strong,  yet  against  the  weak,  and 
endeavoring  to  attract  to  themselves  the  credit  and  glory  of  main- 
taining the  power  and  influence  of  England. 

Well,  Gentlemen,  they  were  to  maintain  the  integrity  and  inde- 
pendence of  Turkey.  How  did  they  set  about  it  ?  They  were  not 


480  Gladstone  on  the  Beaeonsfield  Ministry. 

satisfied  with  asking  for  our  humble  two  millions ;  they  asked  for 
bix  millions.  What  did  they  do,  first  of  all  ?  First  of  all  they 
encouraged  Turkey  to  go  to  war.  They  did  not  counsel  Turkey's 
submission  to  superior  force ;  they  neither  would  advise  her  to  sub- 
mit, nor  would  they  assist  her  to  resist.  They  were  the  great  causes 
of  her  plunging  into  that  deplorable  and  ruinous  war,  from  the 
consequences  of  which,  her  Majesty's  speech  stales  this  year,  Turkey 
has  not  yet  recovered,  and  there  is  not  the  smallest  appearance  of 
hope  that  she  will  ever  recover. 

But  afterwards,  and  when  the  war  had  taken  place,  they  came 
and  asked  you  for  a  vote  of  six  millions.  What  did  they  do  with 
the  six  millions?  They  flourished  it  in  the  face  of  the  world. 
What  did  they  gain  for  Turkey  ?  In  the  first  place,  they  sent  a 
fleet  to  the  Dardanelles  and  the  Bosphorus.  Are  you  aware  that  in 
sending  that  fleet  they  broke  the  law  of  Europe  ?  They  applied  for 
a  firman  to  the  Sultan.  The  Sultan  refused,  and  they  had  no  right 
to  send  that  fleet.  But,  however  that  may  be,  what  was  the  use  of 
sending  that  fleet  ?  The  consequence  was  that  the  Russian  army, 
which  had  been  at  a  considerable  distance  from  Constantinople 
marched  close  up  to  Constantinople. 

Is  it  possible  to  conceive  an  idea  more  absurd  than  that  which  I 
really  believe  was  entertained  by  many  of  our  friends — I  do  not  say 
our  friends  in  Midlothian,  but  in  places  where  the  intelligence  is 
high — that  the  presence  of  certain  British  ironclads  in  the  Sea  of 
Marmora  prevented  the  victorious  Russian  armies  from  entering 
Constantinople?  What  could  these  ironclads  do?  They  could 
have  battered  down  Constantinople,  no  doubt ;  but  what  consola- 
tion would  that  have  been  to  Turkey,  or  how  would  it  have  pre- 
vented Russian  armies  from  entering  ?  That  part  of  the  pretext  set 
is  too  thin  and  threadbare  to  require  any  confutation.  But  they 
may  say  that  that  vote  of  six  millions  was  an  indication  of  the 
intention  of  England  to  act  in  case  of  need  ;  and  when  it  was  first 
proposed,  it  was  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  England  at  the 
Congress. 

But  did  it  strengthen  the  hands  of  England ;  and  if  so,  to  what 
purpose  was  that  strength  used  ?  The  Treaty  of  San  Stefano  had 
been  signed  between  Russia  and  Turkey  ;  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  was 
substituted  for  it.  What  the  grand  difference  between  the  Treaty 


Gladstone  on  the  Beaconsfield  Ministry.  481 

or  Berlin  and  the  Treaty  of  San  Stefano  ?  There  was  a  portion  of 
Bessarabia  which  down  to  the  time  of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin,  enjoyed 
free  institutions,  and  by  the  Treaty  of  Berlin,  and  mainly  through 
the  agency  of  the  British  Government,  which  had  pledged  itself 
beforehand  by  what  is  called  the  Salisbury-Schouvaloff  Memoran- 
dum, to  support  Russia  in  her  demand  for  that  territory,  if  Russia 
adhered  to  that  demand,  England,  with  the  vote  of  six  millions 
given  to  strengthen  her  influence,  made  herself  specially  responsible 
for  handing  back  that  territory,  which  enjoyed  free  institutions,  to 
be  governed  despotically  by  the  Russian  Empire. 

That  is  the  first  purpose  for  which,  as  I  have  shown  you,  your 
vote  of  six  millions  was  available.  What  was  the  second  ?  It  was 
to  draw  a  line  along  the  Balkan  Mountains,  by  means  of  which 
Northern  Bulgaria  was  separated  from  Southern  Bulgaria,  and 
Southern  Bulgaria  was  re-named  Eastern  Roumelia. 

The  Sultan  has  not  marched,  and  cannot  march,  a  man  into 
Eastern  Roumelia.  If  he  did,  the  consequences  would  be  that  the 
whole  of  that  population,  who  are  determined  to  fight  for  their 
rights,  would  rise  against  him  and  his  troops,  and  would  be 
supported  by  other  forces  that  could  be  drawn  to  it  under  the 
resistless  influences  of  sympathy  with  freedom.  You  may  remember 
that  three  or  four  years  ago  utter  scorn  was  poured  upon  what  was 
called  the  "bag-and-baggage  policy."  Are  you  aware  that  that 
policy  is  at  this  moment  the  basis  upon  which  are  regulated  the 
whole  of  the  civil  state  of  things  in  Bulgaria  and  Eastern  Rou- 
melia ?  What  that  policy  asked  was  that  every  Turkish  authority 
should  be  marched  out  of  Bulgaria,  and  every  Turkish  authority 
has  gone  out  of  Bulgaria. 

There  is  not  a  Turk  at  this  moment  who,  as  a  Turk,  holds  office 
under  the  Sultan  either  in  Bulgaria  or  in  Southern  Bulgaria,  which 
is  called  Eastern  Roumelia — no,  not  one.  The  despised  "  bag-and- 
baggage  policy  "  is  at  this  moment  the  law  of  Europe,  and  that  is 
the  result  of  it ;  and  it  is  for  that,  Gentlemen,  that  the  humble 
individual  who  stands  before  you  was  held  up  and  reviled  as  a 
visionary  enthusiast  and  a  verbose — I  forget  what — rhetoricians 
although  I  believe  myself  there  was  not  much  verbosity  in  that 
particular  phrase.  It  appeared  to  me  the  people  of  England 
understood  it  pretty  well — nay,  more,  the  Congress  of  Berlin 
31 


482  Gladstone  on  the  Beaconsfield  Ministry. 

seemed  to  have  understood  it,  and  the  state  of  things  which  I 
recommended  was  irresistible,  and  now,  I  thank  God,  is  irre- 
versibly established  in  those  once  unhappy  provinces. 

Gentlemen,  we  have  got  one  more  thing  to  do  in  regard  to  these 
provinces,  and  that  is  this — I  urged  it  at  the  same  time  when  I 
produced  this  monstrous  conception  of  the  "  bag-and-baggage 
policy  " — it  is  this,  to  take  great  care  that  the  majority  of  the  in- 
habitants of  these  provinces,  who  are  Christians,  do  not  oppress 
either  the  Mohammedans,  or  the  Jewish,  or  any  other  minority. 
That  is  a  sacred  duty  ;  I  don't  believe  it  to  be  a  difficult  duty ;  it  is 
a  sacred  duty.  I  stated  to  you  just  now  that  there  was  not  a  Turk 
holding  office,  as  a  Turk,  in  these  provinces. 

I  believe  there  are  Turks  holding  office — and  I  rejoice  to  hear  it 
— holding  office  through  the  free  suffrage  of  their  countrymen,  and 
by  degrees  I  hope  that  they,  when  they  are  once  rid  of  all  the  pesti- 
lent and  poisonous  associations,  and  the  recollections  of  the  old 
ascendancy,  will  become  good  and  peaceful  citizens  like  other 
people.  I  believe  the  people  of  Turkey  have  in  them  many  fine 
qualities,  whatever  the  Governors  may  be,  capable  under  proper 
education,  Gentlemen,  of  bringing  them  to  a  state  of  capacity  and 
competency  for  every  civil  duty. 

Gentlemen,  it  still  remains  for  me  to  ask  you  how  this  great  and 
powerful  Government  has  performed  its  duty  of  maintaining  the 
integrity  and  independence  of  Turkey.  It  has  had  great  and  extra- 
ordinary advantages.  It  has  had  the  advantage  of  disciplined 
support  from  its  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Though  I 
am  not  making  any  complaint,  as  my  friend  in  the  Chair  knows,  it 
was  not  exactly  the  same  as  happened  in  the  days  of  recent  Liberal 
Governments.  It  had  had  unflinching  and  incessant  support  from 
the  large  majority  of  the  Lords. 

That  was  very  far  from  being  our  case  in  our  day.  There  is  no 
reason  why  I  should  not  say  so.  I  say  freely — it  is  an  historical 
fact — that  the  House  of  Lords,  when  the  people's  representatives 
are  backed  by  a  strong  national  feeling,  when  it  would  be  danger- 
ous to  oppose,  confront,  or  resist,  then  the  House  of  Lords  pass  our 
measures.  So  they  passed  the  Disestablishment  of  the  Irish 
Church,  and  so  they  passed  the  Irish  Land  Act;  and  I  have  no 
doubt  that,  if  it  pleases  the  Almighty,  they  v^Il  pass  many  more 
good  measures. 


Gladstone  on  the  JBeaconsfield  Ministry.  483 

But  the  moment  the  people  go  to  sleep — and  they  cannot  be 
always  awake — when  public  opinion  flags  and  ceases  to  take  a 
strong  and  decided  interest  in  public  questions,  that  moment  the 
majority  of  the  House  of  Lords  grows.  They  mangle,  they  post- 
pone, they  reject  the  good  measures  that  go  up  to  them. 

I  will  show  you  another  advantage  which  the  present  Adminis- 
tration possesses.  They  are  supported  by  several  foreign  Govern- 
ments. Did  you  read  in  the  London  papers  within  the  last  few 
weeks  an  account  of  the  energetic  support  they  derived  from  the 
Emperor  of  Austria  ?  Did  you  see  that  the  Emperor  of  Austria 
sent  for  the  British  Ambassador,  Sir  Henry  Elliot,  and  told  him 
that  a  pestilent  person,  a  certain  individual  named  Mr.  Gladstone, 
was  a  man  who  did  not  approve  the  foreign  policy  of  Austria,  and 
how  anxious  he  was — so  the  Emperor  of  Austria  was  pleased  com- 
placently to  say — for  the  guidance  of  the  British  people  and  of  the 
electors  of  Midlothian — how  anxious  he  was  that  you  should,  all 
of  you,  give  your  votes  in  a  way  to  maintain  the  Ministry  of  Lord 
Beaconsfield  ?  Well,  Gentlemen,  if  you  approve  the  foreign  policy 
of  Austria,  the  foreign  policy  that  Austria  has  usually  pursued,  I 
advise  you  to  do  that  very  thing ;  if  you  want  to  have  an  Austrian 
foreign  policy  dominant  in  the  Councils  of  this  country,  give  your 
votes  as  the  Emperor  of  Austria  recommends. 

What  has  that  foreign  policy  of  Austria  been  ?  I  do  not  say 
that  Austria  is  incurable.  I  hope  it  will  yet  be  cured,  because  it 
has  got  better  iustitutions  at  home,  and  I  heartily  wish  it  well  if  it 
makes  honest  attempts  to  confront  its  difficulties.  Yet  I  must  look 
to  what  that  policy  has  been.  Austria  has  ever  been  the  unflinch- 
ing foe  of  freedom  in  every  country  of  Europe.  Austria  trampled 
under  foot,  Austria  resisted  the  unity  of  Germany. 

Russia,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  has  been  the  foe  of  freedom,  too ;  but 
in  Russia  there  is  an  exception — Russia  has  been  the  friend  of 
Slavonic  freedom ;  but  Austria  has  never  been  the  friend  even  of 
Slavonic  freedom.  Austria  did  all  she  could  to  prevent  the  creation 
of  Belgium.  Austria  never  lifted  a  finger  for  the  regeneration  and 
constitution  of  Greece.  There  is  not  an  instance — there  is  not  a 
spot  upon  the  whole  map  where  you  can  lay  your  finger  and  say, 
"  There  Austria  did  good."  I  speak  of  its  general  policy;  I  speak 
of  its  general  tendency.  I  do  not  abandon  the  hope  of  improve- 


484  Gladstone  on  the  Beaconsfield  Ministry. 

ment  in  the  future,  but  we  must  look  to  the  past  and  to  the  present 
for  the  guidance  of  our  judgments  at  this  moment. 

And  in  the  Congress  of  Berlin  Austria  resisted  the  extension  of 
freedom,  and  did  not  promote  it;  and  therefore,  I  say,  if  you  want 
the  spirit  of  Austria  to  inspire  the  Councils  of  this  country,  in 
Heaven's  name  take  the  Emperor's  counsel ;  and  I  advise  you  to 
lift  the  Austrian  flag  when  you  go  about  your  purposes  of  canvass 
or  of  public  meetings.  It  will  best  express  the  purpose  you  have 
in  view,  and  I,  for  one,  cannot  complain  of  your  consistency,  what- 
ever, in  that  case,  I  might  think  of  the  tendency  of  your  views  in 
respect  of  principle,  of  justice,  of  the  happiness  of  mankind,  or  of 
the  greatness,  the  dignity,  and  the  honor  of  this  great  Empire. 

But,  Gentlemen,  still  one  word  more,  because  I  have  not  spoken 
of  what  has  been  the  upshot  of  all  this.  There  are  a  great  many 
persons  in  this  country,  I  am  afraid,  as  well  as  in  other  countries, 
who  are  what  is  called  Worshippers  of  Success,  and  at  the  time  of 
the  famous  "  Peace  with  Honor  "  demonstration  there  was  a  very 
great  appearance  of  success.  I  was  not  myself  at  that  time  par- 
ticularly safe  when  I  walked  in  the  streets  of  London.  I  have 
walked  with  my  wife  from  my  own  house,  I  have  walked  owing 
my  protection  to  the  police ;  but  that  was  the  time,  Gentlemen, 
when  all  those  curious  methods  of  maintaining  British  honor  and 
British  dignity  were  supposed  to  have  been  wonderfully  successful. 

And  now  I  want  to  ask  you,  as  I  have  shown  the  way  we  went 
about  maintaining  the  independence  and  integrity  of  Belgium — 
what  has  become  of  the  independence  and  integrity  of  Turkey  ? 
I  have  shown  that  they  neither  knew  in  the  first  instance  the  ends 
towards  which  they  should  first  have  directed  their  efforts,  nor, 
when  they  have  chosen  ends,  have  they  been  able  rationally  to 
adapt  their  means  to  the  attainment  of  those  ends.  I  am  not 
speaking  of  the  moral  character  of  the  means,  but  how  they  are 
adapted  to  the  end.  And  what  did  the  vote  of  six  millions  achieve 
for  Turkey  ?  I  will  tell  you  what  it  achieved.  It  did  achieve  one 
result,  and  I  want  you  well  to  consider  whether  you  are  satisfied 
with  it  or  not,  especially  those  of  you  who  are  Conservatives.  It 
undoubtedly  cut  down  largely  the  division  of  Bulgaria,  established 
by  the  Treaty  of  San  Stefano. 

Now,  I  am  not  going  to  maintain  that  that  division  was  a  right 


Gladstone  on  the  Beaeonsfield  Ministry.  485 

one,  for  that  depends  on  a  knowledge  more  minute  than  I  possess ; 
but  the  effect  of  it  was  to  cut  it  down,  as  is  perfectly  well  known — 
that  is,  put  back  under  the  direct  rule  of  the  Sultan  of  Turkey, 
and  in  the  exact  condition  in  which  all  European  Turkey,  except 
the  Principalities,  had  been  before  the  war,  the  population  inhabit- 
ing the  country  of  Macedonia,  and  about  a  million  of  people,  the 
vast  majority  of  them  Christian. 

Two  substantive  and  definite  results,  the  two  most  definite 
results,  produced  were  these — first  of  all,  that  Bessarabia,  that  had 
been  a  country  with  free  institutions,  was  handed  back  to  despot- 
ism ;  and  secondly,  a  million  and  a  half  of  people  inhabiting  Mace- 
donia, to  whom  free  institutions  had  been  promised  by  the  Treaty 
of  San  Stefano,  are  now  again  placed  under  the  Turkish  Pashas 
and  have  not  received  one  grain  of  benefit  of  importance  as  com- 
pared with  their  condition  before  the  war. 

But  how  as  regards  Turkey  ?  I  have  shown  results  bad  enough 
in  regard  to  freedom.  What  did  the  British  Plenipotentiaries  say 
at  Berlin?  They  said  that  some  people  seemed  to  suppose  we 
had  come  to  cut  and  carve  Turkey.  That  is  quite  a  mistake,  said 
the  Plenipotentiaries  ;  we  have  come  to  consolidate  Turkey.  Some 
of  the  scribes  of  the  Foreign  Office  coined  a  new  word,  and  said  it 
was  to  "  rejuvenate  "  Turkey. 

How  did  they  rejuvenate  this  unfortunate  Empire,  this  misera- 
ble Empire,  this  unhappy  Government  which  they  have  lured  into 
war  and  allowed  and  encouraged  to  pass  into  war  because  they 
allowed  their  Ambassadors  at  Constantinople,  Sir  Henry  Elliot 
and  Sir  Austen  Layard,  to  whisper  into  the  ear  of  the  Turk  that 
British  interests  would  compel  us  to  interfere  and  help  her  ?  What 
has  been  the  result  to  Turkey  ?  Now,  I  will  say,  much  as  the 
Christian  populations  have  the  right  to  complain,  the  Sultan  of 
Turkey  has  a  right  to  complain  very  little  less.  How  has  the 
Sultan  been  treated?  We  condescended  to  obtain  from  him  the 
island  of  Cyprus,  at  a  time  when  Austria  was  pulling  at  him  on 
one  side  and  freedom  on  the  other.  We  condescended  to  take  from 
him  that  miserable  paltry  share  of  the  spoil. 

That  is  not  all.  What  is  the  condition  of  Turkey  in  Europe? 
It  is  neither  integrity  nor  iudepep^^ance.  The  Sultan  is  liable  to 
interference  at  any  moment,  at  every  point  of  his  territory  from 


486  Gladstone  on  the  Beaconsfield  Ministry. 

every  one  thstt  signed  the  Treaty  of  Berlin.  He  has  lost  ten 
millions  of  sutgects  altogether,  ten  millions  more  are  in  some  kind 
of  dependence  or  other — in  a  condition  that  the  Sultan  <V>es 
not  know  whether  they  will  be  his  subjects  to-morrow  or  the  next 
day.  Albania  is  possessed  by  a  League.  Macedonia,  as  you  read 
in  the  papers,  is  traversed  by  brigands.  Thessaly  and  Epirus, 
according  to  the  Treaty  of  Berlin,  should  be  given  to  Greece. 

The  treasury  of  Turkey  is  perfectly  empty,  disturbances  have 
spread  through  Turkey  in  Asia,  and  the  condition  of  that  Govern- 
ment, whose  integrity  and  independence  you  were  told  that  "  Peace 
with  Honor"  had  secured,  is  more  miserable  than  at  any  previous 
period  of  its  history ;  and  wise  and  merciful  indeed  would  be  the 
man  that  would  devise  some  method  of  improving  it. 

To  those  gentlemen  who  talk  of  the  great  vigor  and  determina- 
tion and  success  of  the  Tory  Government,  I  ask  you  to  compare  the 
case  of  Belgium  and  Turkey.  Try  them  by  principles,  or  try  them 
by  results,  I  care  not  which,  we  knew  what  we  were  about  and 
what  was  to  be  done  when  we  had  integrity  and  independence  to 
lupport. 

When  they  had  integrity  and  independence  to  protect,  they 
talked,  indeed,  loud  enough  about  supporting  Turkey,  and  you 
would  suppose  they  were  prepared  to  spend  their  whole  resources 
upon  it ;  but  all  their  measures  have  ended  in  nothing  except  that 
they  have  reduced  Turkey  to  a  state  of  greater  weakness  than  at 
any  portion  of  her  history,  whereas,  on  the  other  hand,  in  regard  to 
the  twelve  or  thirteen  millions  of  Slavs  and  Roumanian  population, 
they  have  made  the  name  of  England  odious  throughout  the  whole 
population,  and  done  everything  in  their  power  to  throw  that  popu- 
lation into  the  arms  of  Russia,  to  be  the  tool  of  Russia  in  its  plans 
and  schemes,  unless,  indeed,  as  I  hope  and  am  inclined  to  believe, 
the  virtue  of  free  institutions  they  have  obtained  will  make  them 
too  wise  to  become  the  tools  of  any  foreign  Power  whatever,  will 
make  them  intent  upon  maintaining  their  own  liberties  as  becomes 
a  free  people  playing  a  noble  part  in  the  history  of  Europe. 

I  have  detained  you  too  long,  and  I  will  not,  though  I  would, 
pursue  this  subject  further.  I  have  shown  you  what  I  think  the 
miserable  failure  of  the  policy  of  the  Government.  Remember  we 
have  a  fixed  point  from  which  to  draw  our  measurements.  Remeni- 


Gladstone  on  the  Beaconsfield  Ministry.  487 

ber  what  in  1876  the  proposal  of  those  who  approved  of  the  Bul- 
garian agitation  and  who  were  denounced  as  the  enemies  of  Turkey, 
remember  what  that  proposal  would  have  done. 

It  would  have  given  Autonomy  to  Bulgaria,  which  has  now  got 
Autonomy ;  but  it  would  have  saved  all  the  remainder  at  less 
detriment  to  the  rest  of  the  Turkish  Empire.  Turkey  would  have 
had  a  fair  chance.  Turkey  would  not  have  suffered  the  territorial 
losses  which  she  has  elsewhere  suffered,  and  which  she  has  suffered 
I  must  say,  in  consequence  of  her  being  betrayed  into  the  false  and 
mischievous,  the  tempting  and  seductive,  but  unreal  and  unwise 
policy  of  the  present  Administration. 

There  are  other  matters  which  must  be  reserved  for  other  times. 
We  are  told  about  the  Crimean  War.  Sir  Stafford  Northcote  tells 
us  the  Crimean  War,  made  by  the  Liberal  Government,  cost  the 
country  forty  millions  of  debt,  and  an  income  tax  of  Is.  4d.  per 
pound.  Now  what  is  the  use  of  telling  us  that?  I  will  discuss 
the  Crimean  War  on  some  future  occasion,  but  not  now.  If  the 
Liberal  Government  were  so  clever,  that  they  contrived  to  burden 
the  country  with  forty  millions  of  debt  for  this  Crimean  War,  why 
does  he  not  go  back  to  the  war  before  that,  and  tell  us  what  the 
Tory  Government  did  with  the  Revolutionary  War,  when  they 
(eft  a  debt  on  the  country  of  some  nine  hundred  millions,  of  which 
six  hundred  and  fifty  millions  they  had  made  in  the  Revolutionary 
War,  and  not  only  so,  but  they  left  the  blessing  and  legacy  of  the  Corn 
Laws,  and  of  a  high  protective  system,  and  impoverished  country, 
and  a  discontented  population — so  much  so,  that  for  years  that 
followed  that  great  Revolutionary  War,  no  man  could  say  whether 
the  Constitution  of  this  country  was  or  was  not  worth  five  years' 
purchase. 

They  might  even  go  further  back  than  the  Revolutionary  War. 
They  have  been  talking  loudly  of  the  Colonies,  and  say  that,  for- 
sooth, the  Liberal  party  do  nothing  for  the  Colonies.  What  did 
the  Tory  party  do  for  the  Colonies?  I  can  tell  you.  Go  to  the 
war  that  preceded  the  Revolutionary  War.  They  made  war  against 
the  American  Continent.  They  added  to  the  debt  of  the  country 
two  hundred  millions  in  order  to  destroy  freedom  in  America. 
T  ey  alienated  it  and  drove  it  from  this  country.  They  were  com- 
pe~ed  to  bring  this  country  to  make  an  ignominious  peace;  and, 


488  Gladstone  on  the  JSeaconsfield  Ministry. 

as  far  as  I  know,  that  attempt  to  put  down  freedom  in  America, 
with  its  results  to  this  country,  is  the  only  one  great  fact  which  has 
ever  distinguished  the  relations  between  a  Tory  Government  and 
the  Colonies. 

But,  Gentlemen,  these  must  be  matters  postponed  for  another 
occasion.  I  thank  you  very  cordially,  both  friends  and  opponents, 
if  opponents  you  be,  for  the  extreme  kindness  with  which  you  have 
heard  me.  I  have  spoken,  and  I  must  speak  in  very  strong  terms 
of  the  acts  done  by  my  opponents.  I  will  never  say  that  they  did  it 
from  vindictiveness,  I  will  never  say  that  they  did  it  from  passion, 
I  will  never  say  that  they  did  it  from  a  sordid  love  of  office ;  I  have 
no  right  to  use  such  words  ;  I  have  no  right  to  entertain  such  senti- 
ments ;  I  repudiate  and  abjure  them.  I  give  them  credit  for 
patriotic  motives — I  give  them  credit  for  those  patriotic  motives, 
which  are  incessantly  and  gratuitously  denied  to  us.  I  believe  we 
are  all  united  in  a  fond  attachment  to  the  great  country  to  which 
we  belong,  to  the  great  Empire  which  has  committed  to  it  a  trust 
and  function  from  Providence,  as  special  and  remarkable  as  was 
ever  entrusted  to  any  portion  of  the  family  of  man. 

When  I  speak  of  that  trust  and  that  function  I  feel  that  words 
fail.  I  cannot  tell  you  what  I  think  of  the  nobleness  of  the  inher- 
itance which  has  descended  upon  us,  of  the  sacredness  of  the  duty 
of  maintaining  it.  I  will  not  condescend  to  make  it  a  part  of  con- 
troversial politics.  It  is  2.  part  of  my  being,  of  my  flesh  and  blood ^ 
of  my  heart  and  soul.  For  those  ends  I  have  labored  through  my 
youth  and  manhood,  and,  more  than  that,  till  my  hairs  are  grey. 
In  that  faith  and  practice  I  have  lived,  and  in  that  faith  and 
practice  I  shall  die. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  IRISH  QUESTION. 

Personal  Explanation — Domestic  Government  for  Ireland — Six  Conditions  for 
Home  Rule — Repelling  Attacks — Trivial  Disputes — All  Great  Movements 
Small  in  the  Beginning — Failure  of  Parliament  to  Legislate  for  Ireland — 
Attempt  to  do  Justice  to  the  Irish — Union  of  the  Kingdoms  to  Be  Main- 
tained— Irish  Affairs  to  Be  Settled  in  Ireland — Movement  Against  Rent — 
Mr.  Parnell's  Party — Central  Authority — Home  Rule  to  Be  Safeguarded — 
Urgency  of  the  Question — Charge  of  Being  in  Haste. 


ffl1 


.  GLADSTONE,  in  a  pamphlet  published  during  the 
agitation  of  Home  Rule  for  Ireland,  defended  his  action 
in  the  following  terms,  which  did  much  to  silence  hostile 
criticism  and  secure  friends  for  the  cause  he  advocated  so  earnestly : 

In  the  year  1868,  I  was  closely  associated  with  the  policy  of 
disestablishing  the  Irish  Church.  It  was  then,  not  unfairly, 
attempted  to  assail  the  cause  in  the  person  of  its  advocate.  To 
defeat  this  attempt,  an  act  became  necessary  which  would  other- 
wise have  been  presumptuous  and  obtrusive.  In  order  to  save  the 
pojjgy  from  suffering,  I  laid  a  personal  explanation  before  the 
world.  The  same  motive  now  obliges  me  to  repeat  the  act,  and 
will  I  hope  form  a  sufficient  excuse  for  my  repeating  it. 

The  substance  of  my  defence  or  apology  will,  however,  on  the 
present  occasion  be  altogether  different.  I  had  then  to  explain  the 
reasons  for  which,  and  the  mode  in  which,  I  changed  the  opinions 
and  conduct,  with  respect  to  the  Church  of  Ireland  then  established, 
which  I  had  held  half  a  century  ago.  I  had  shown  my  practical 
acceptance  of  the  rule  that  change  of  opinion  should  if  possible  be 
accompanied  with  proof  of  independence  and  disinterested  motive ; 
for  I  had  resigned  my  place  in  the  Cabinet  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  in 
order  to  make  good  rny  title  to  a  new  point  of  departure.  On  the 
present  occasion  I  have  no  such  change  to  vindicate ;  but  only  to 
point  out  the  mode  in  which  my  language  and  conduct,  governed 
by  uniformity  of  principle,  have  simply  followed  the  several  stages, 

489 


490  The  Irish  Question. 

by  which  the  great  question  of  autonomy  for  Ireland  has  been 
brought  to  a  state  of  ripeness  for  practical  legislation. 
/      It  is  a  satisfaction  to  me  that,  in  confuting  imputations  upon 
myself,  I  shall  not  be  obliged  to  cast  imputations  on  any  individual 
opponent. 

The  subject  of  a  domestic  government  for  Ireland,  without  any 
distinct  specification  of  its  form,  has  been  presented  to  us  from  time 
to  time.  I  have  at  no  time  regarded  it  as  necessarily  replete  with 
danger,  or  as  a  question  which  ought  to  be  blocked  out  by  the  asser- 
tion of  some  high  constitutional  doctrine  with  which  it  could  not  be 
reconciled.  But  I  have  considered  it  to  be  a  question  involving 
such  an  amount  and  such  a  kind  of  change,  and  likely  to  be 
encountered  with  so  much  of  prejudice  apart  from  reason,  as  to 
make  it  a  duty  to  look  rigidly  to  the  conditions,  upon  the  fulfill- 
ment of  which  alone  it  could  warrantably  be  entertained.  They 
were  in  my  view  as  follows: 

1.  It  could  not  be  entertained,  except  upon  a  final  surrender 
of  the  hope  that  Parliament  could  so  far  serve  as  a  legislative 
instrument  for  Ireland,  as  to  be  able  to  establish  honorable  and 
friendly  relations  between  Great  Britain  and  the  people  of  that 
country. 

2.  Nor  unless  the  demand  for  it  were  made  in  obedience  to  the 
unequivocal  and  rooted  desire  of  Ireland,  expressed  through  the 
constitutional  medium  of  the  Irish  representatives. 

3.  Nor  unless,  being  thus  made,  it  were  likewise  so  defined,  as 
to  bring  it  within  the  limits  of  safety  and  prudence,  and  to  obviate 
all  danger  to  the  unity  and  security  of  the  Empire. 

4.  Nor  was  it,  in  my  view,  allowable  to  deal  with  Ireland  upon 
any  principle,  the  benefit  of  which  could  not  be  allowed  to  Scot- 
land in  circumstances  of  equal  and  equally  clear  desire. 

5.  Upon  the  fulfillment  of  these  conditions,  it  appeared  to  me 
an  evident  duty  to  avoid,  as  long  as  possible,  all  steps  which  would 
bring  this  great  settlement  into  the  category  of  party  measures. 

6.  And,  subject  to  the  foregoing  considerations,  I  deemed  it  to 
be  of  great  moment  to  the  public  weal  that  the  question  should  be 
promptly  and  expeditiously  dealt  with ;  inasmuch  as  it  must  other- 
wise gravely  disturb  the  action  of  our  political  system  by  changes 
of  Ministry,  by  Dissolutions  of  Parliament,  and  by  impeding  the 


The  Irish  Question.  491 

business,  and  derogating  further  from  the  character  of  the  House 
of  Commons. 

These  were  the  principles,  which  I  deemed  applicable  to  the 
subject ;  and  every  step  I  have  taken  from  first  to  last,  without 
exception,  has  been  prompted  by,  and  is  referable  to,  one  or  other 
of  them. 

From  the  torrent  of  reproachful  criticisms,  brought  down  upon 
me  probably  by  the  necessity  of  the  case,  it  is  not  easy  to  extricate, 
in  an  adequate  form,  the  charge  or  charges  intended  to  be  made. 
One  or  two  of  the  statements  I  must  own  surprise  me ;  as  for 
example  when  Lord  Northbrook,  complaining  of  me  for  reticence 
before,  and  for  my  action  after,  the  election  of  1885,  states  con- 
fidently that  nothing  had  happened  "that  could  not  have  been 
foreseen  by  any  man  of  ordinary  political  foresight."  I  do  not 
dwell  upon  the  undeniable  truth  that  many  things  may  be  fore- 
seen, which,  notwithstanding,  cannot  properly  become  the  subject 
of  action  until  they  have  been  seen  as  well  as  foreseen. 

But  I  broadly  contest  the  statement.  I  assert  that  an  incident 
of  the  most  vital  importance  had  happened,  which  I  did  not  fore- 
see ;  which  was  not  foreseen,  to  my  knowledge,  by  any  one  else, 
even  if  some  might  have  hoped  for  it ;  and  which  I  doubt  whether 
Lord  Northbrook  himself  foresaw;  namely,  that  the  Irish  demand, 
put  forth  on  the  firstnightof  the  Session  by  Mr.  Parnell,  with  eighty- 
four  Irish  Home  Rulers  at  his  back,  would  be  confined  within  the 
fair  and  moderate  bounds  of  autonomy ;  of  an  Irish  legislature, 
only  for  affairs  specifically  Irish ;  of  a  statutory  and  subordinate 
Parliament.  But  in  this  incident  lay  the  fulfillment  of  one  of  those 
conditions  which  were  in  my  view  essential,  and  which  had  been 
theretofore  unfulfilled. 

The  more  general  and  more  plausible  form  of  the  attack  I  think 
may  be  stated  as  a  dilemma.  Either  I  had  conceived  the  intention 
of  Home  Rule  precipitately,  or  I  had  concealed  it  unduly.  Either 
would,  undoubtedly,  have  been  a  grave  offence ;  the  second  as  a 
plot  against  my  friends,  the  first  as  an  attempt  to  escape  from  the 
sober  judgment  of  the  country  and  to  carry  it  by  surprise.  The 
first  aspect  of  the  case  was  presented  by  Lord  Hartington  in  the 
TIouse  of  Commons,  and  by  Mr.  Chamberlain,  on  the  20th  of  June, 
at  Birmingham.  The  second  was  put  forward  bv  Mr-  Bright  in 


492  The  Irish  Question. 

addressing  his  constituents,  and,  with  much  point  and  force,  by 
Lord  Hartington,  at  Sheffield. 

In  substance  he  argued  thus  :  "  Mr.  Gladstone  has  never,  during 
fifteen  years,  condemned  the  principle  of  Home  Rule.  Either,  then, 
he  had  not  considered  it,  or  he  had  assented  to  it.  But,  in  his 
position  as  Minister,  he  must  have  considered  it.  Therefore,  the 
proper  conclusion  is,  that  he  had  assented  to  it.  And  yet,  though 
I  was  Secretary  for  Ireland,  with  Lord  Spencer  as  Viceroy,  when 
he  was  Prime  Minister,  to  neither  of  us  did  he  convey  the  smallest 
idea  of  such  assent." 

Telling  as  this  statement  evidently  was,  it  abounds  in  leakages. 
In  the  first  place  I  deny  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  minister  to 
make  known,  even  to  his  colleagues,  every  idea  which  has  formed 
itself  in  his  mind.  I  should  even  say  that  the  contradictory  pro- 
position would  be  absurd.  So  far  as  my  experience  of  government 
has  gone,  subjects  ripe  for  action  supply  a  minister  with  abundant 
material  for  communication  with  his  colleagues,  and  to  make  a  rule 
or  mixing  with  them  matters  still  contingent  and  remote,  would 
confuse  and  retard  business,  instead  of  aiding  it.  But  letting  pass, 
for  argument  sake,  a  very  irrational  proposition,  I  grapple  with  the 
dilemma,  and  say  non  sequitur — the  consequence  asserted  is  no  con- 
sequence at  all.  It  was  no  consequence  from  my  not  having  con- 
demned Home  Rule,  that  I  had  either  not  considered  it,  or  had 
adopted  it. 

What  is  true  is,  that  I  had  not  publicly  and  in  principle  con- 
demned it,  and  also  that,  I  had  mentally  considered  it.  But  I  had 
neither  adopted  nor  rejected  it ;  and  for  the  very  simple  reason, 
that  it  was  not  ripe  either  for  adoption  or  rejection.  It  had  not 
become  the  unequivocal  demand  of  Ireland ;  and  it  had  not  been 
so  defined  by  its  promoters,  as  to  prove  that  it  was  a  safe  demand. 
It  may  and  should  be  known  to  many  who  are  or  have  been  my 
colleagues,  that  I  made  some  abortive  efforts  towards  increasing 
Irish  influence  over  Irish  affairs,  beyond  the  mere  extension  of 
county  government,  but  not  in  a  shape  to  which  the  term  Home 
Rule  could  be  properly  applied. 

Nor  have  I  been  able  to  trace  a  single  imputation  upon  me, 
whether  of  omission  or  commission,  in  respect  of  which  I  should 
not,  by  acting  according  to  the  ^ders  of  my  censors,  have  offended 


The  Irish  Question.  493 

against  all  or  some  of  the  rules,  which  I  have  pointed  out  as  the 
guides  of  my  conduct,  and  by  which  I  seek  to  stand  or  fall. 

As  these  disputes  of  ours,  trivial  enough  from  one  point  of  view, 
are  in  a  certain  sense  making  history,  it  may  be  well  if,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  thread  of  these  observations,  I  recall,  by  means  of  a 
very  brief  outline,  some  particulars  relating  to  the  Government  of 
Ireland,  and  to  the  demand  for  a  domestic  legislature,  during  the 
last  half  century.  For  that  demand,  constant  in  the  hearts  of 
Irishmen,  has  nevertheless  been  intermittent  in  its  manifestation ; 
sometimes  wider,  sometimes  narrower  in  its  form ;  sometimes,  as 
in  the  famine,  put  aside  by  imperative  necessity ;  sometimes  yield- 
ing the  ground  to  partial  and  lawless  action  ;  sometimes  exchanged 
for  attempts  at  practical  legislation,  which,  for  the  moment,  threw 
it  into  the  shade. 

The  great  controversy  of  Free  Trade,  the  reformation  of  the 
Tariff,  and  the  care  of  finance,  provided  me,  in  common  with  many 
others,  nay,  in  the  main  provided  the  Three  Kingdoms,  with  a 
serious  and  usually  an  absorbing  political  occupation  for  a  quarter  of 
a  century,  from  the  time  when  the  Government  of  Sir  R.  Peel  was 
formed  in  1841.  When  that  period  has  passed,  and  when  the 
question  of  the  franchise  had  been  dealt  with,  the  general  condi- 
tion of  Ireland  became  the  main  subject  of  my  anxiety. 

The  question  of  a  home-government  for  Ireland  was  at  that 
time  in  abeyance.  The  grant  of  such  a  government  to  that  coun- 
try had  only  been  known  to  us,  in  the  past,  either  as  the  demand 
for  a  repeal  of  the  Legislative  Union,  or  in  the  still  more  formid- 
able shape,  which  it  presented  when  the  policy  of  O'Connell  was 
superseded  by  the  men  of  action,  and  when  the  too  just  discontent 
of  Ireland  assumed  the  violent  and  extravagant  form  of  Fenianism. 
The  movement  for  Repeal  appeared  to  merge  into  this  dangerous 
conspiracy,  which  it  was  obvious  could  only  be  met  by  measures  of 
repression.  In  none  of  these  controversies  had  I  personally  taken 
any  direct  share,  beyond  following  the  statesmen  of  1834  and  of 
1844  by  my  vote  against  Repeal  of  the  Union.  Mournfully  as  I 
am  struck,  in  retrospect,  by  the  almost  absolute  failure  of  Parlia- 
ment, at  and  long  after  those  periods,  to  perform  its  duties  to  Ire- 
land, I  see  no  reason  to  repent  of  any  such  vote.  Unspeakably 
criminal,  I  own,  were  the  means  by  which  the  Union  was  brought 


494  The  Irish  Question. 

about,  and  utterly  insufficient  were  the  reasons  for  its  adoption ; 
still  it  was  a  measure  vast  in  itself  and  in  its  consequential  arrange- 
ments, and  it  could  not  be  made  the  subject  of  experiment  from 
year  to  year,  or  from  Parliament  to  Parliament. 

There  was  then  a  yet  stronger  reason  for  declining  to  impart  a 
shock  to  the  legislative  fabric  by  Repeal.  Before  us  lay  an  alter- 
native policy,  the  relief  of  Ireland  from  grievance ;  and  this  policy 
had  not  been  tried  in  any  manner  at  all  approaching  to  sufficiency. 
It  was  not  possible,  at  the  time,  to  prognosticate  how  in  a  short  time 
Parliament  would  stumble  and  almost  writhe  under  its  constantly 
accumulating  burdens,  or  to  pronounce  that  it  would  eventually 
prove  incapable  of  meeting  the  wants  of  Ireland.  Evidently  there 
was  a  period  when  Irish  patriotism,  as  represented  by  O'Connell, 
looked  favorably  upon  this  alternative  policy,  had  no  fixed  conclu- 
sion as  to  the  absolute  necessity  for  Home  Government,  and  seemed 
to  allow  that  measures  founded  in  "justice  to  Ireland"  might  pos- 
sibly suffice  to  meet  the  necessity  of  the  case. 

But  the  efforts  made  in  this  direction,  down  to  the  time  of  the 
famine,  were,  though  honest  and  useful,  only  partial;  and  the^ 
unhappily  had  been  met  by  an  obstinacy  of  resistance,  which  en- 
tailed long  delays  and  frequent  mutilations;  and  which  in  all  cases 
deprived  them  of  their  gracious  aspect,  and  made  even  our  reme- 
dial plans  play  the  part  of  corroborative  witnesses  to  an  evil  state 
of  things. 

It  will  be  admitted  that  the  Government  of  1868-74  endeavored 
on  a  more  adequate  scale,  principally  by  what  is  still  called  in  some 
quarters  sacrilege  and  confiscation,  to  grapple  with  an  inveterate 
difficulty.  Once  more,  in  acknowledgment  of  these  efforts,  the  Na- 
tional Party  fell  into  line.  But,  on  the  important  question  of  Edu- 
cation, we  were  defeated  in  1873,  not  by  an  English,  but  by  an 
Irish  resistance.  Other  measures,  to  which  I  had  looked  with  in- 
terest, could  not  be  brought  to  birth.  But  a  happy  effect  had  been 
produced  upon  Irish  feeling  ;  and  prosperity,  both  agricultural  and 
general  singularly,  it  might  be  said  unduly,  favored  for  some  years 
the  operation  of  the  Land  Act  of  1870.  We  had  taken  seriously 
to  the  removal  of  grievance,  as  the  alternative  policy  to  Repeal  of 
the  Union. 

So  much  had  been  achieved,  with  the  zealous  support  of  the  elect- 


The  Irish  Question.  495 

orate  of  England  and  Scotland,  that  it  was  our  plain  duty  to  carry 
through  that  policy  to  the  uttermost,  and  to  give  no  countenance  in 
any  shape  to  proposals  for  either  undoing  or  modifying  the  present 
constitution  of  the  Imperial  Parliament,  until  it  had  been  estab- 
lished to  our  satisfaction,  or  conclusively  shown  to  be  the  fixed  and 
rooted  conviction  of  the  Irish  people,  that  Parliament  was  unequal 
to  the  work  of  governing  Ireland  as  a  free  people  should  be  gov- 
erned. 

At  this  time  it  was,  that  the  new  formula  of  Home  Rule  came 
forward  as  matter  for  discussion,  not  in  Parliament,  but  in  Ireland  ; 
before  the  Irish  public  and  under  the  auspices  of  Mr.  Isaac  Butt, 
who  was  at  that  time  simply  an  individual  of  remarkable  ability, 
not  yet  the  representative  or  leader  of  a  Nationalist  party,  far  less 
of  a  Nationalist  majority.  There  were,  at  the  time,  no  inconsider- 
able presumptions  that  Parliament  could  meet  the  wants  of  Ireland, 
from  the  conspicuous  acts  it  had  just  accomplished.  It  was  very 
well  known  that  in  some  cases  where  those  wants  had  not  been 
adequately  met,  such  as  the  case  of  the  Borough  Franchise  in  1868, 
it  was  really  due  to  the  defective  expression  of  them  by  Irish  Mem- 
bers of  Parliament.  It  was  plain  that  there  was  no  authoritative 
voice  from  Ireland,  such  as  was  absolutely  required  to  justify  a 
Prime  Minister  of  this  country  in  using  any  language  which  could 
be  quoted  as  an  encouragement  to  the  movement  on  behalf  of  a 
domestic  Legislature. 

Accordingly,  I  contended  at  Aberdeen  in  the  summer  of  1871, 
that  no  case  had  been  established  to  prove  the  incompetence  of 
Parliament,  or  to  give  authority  to  the  demand  of  Mr.  Butt.  I 
felt,  and  rightly  felt,  the  strongest  objections  to  breaking  up  an 
existing  constitution  of  the  Legislature,  without  proof  of  its  neces- 
sity, of  its  safety,  and  of  the  sufficiency  of  the  authority  by  which 
the  demand  was  made.  But  even  at  that  time  I  did  not  close  the 
door  against  a  recognition  of  the  question  in  a  different  state  of 
things.  I  differed  as  widely  as  possible,  even  at  that  time,  from 
those  with  whom  I  have  been  in  conflict  during  the  present  year. 
For,  instead  of  denouncing  the  idea  of  Home  Rule  as  one  in  its 
essence  destructive  of  the  unity  of  the  Empire,  in  the  following 
^vords  I  accepted  the  assurance  given  to  the  contrary  : 

"  Let  me  cio  the  promoters  of  this  movement  the  fullest  justice. 


496  The  Irish  Question. 

Always  speaking  under  the  conviction,  as  they  most  emphatically 
declare,  and  as  I  fully  believe  them,  that  the  union  of  these  king- 
doms  under  Her  Majesty  is  to  be  maintained,  but  that  Parliament 
is  to  be  broken  up." 

Thus,  at  the  very  first  inception  of  the  question,  I  threw  aside 
the  main  doctrine  on  which  opposition  to  Irish  autonomy  is 
founded.  This  was  the  first  step,  and  I  think  a  considerable  step, 
towards  placing  the  controversy  on  its  true  basis. 

In  the  General  Election  of  1874,  a  great  progress  became  visi- 
ble. Mr.  Butt  was  returned  to  Parliament  as  the  chief  of  a  party, 
formed  on  behalf  of  Irish  self-government.  It  was  a  considerable 
party,  amounting,  as  is  said,  to  a  small  nominal  majority,  yet 
rather  conventionally  agreed  on  a  formula  than  united  by  any  idea 
worked  into  practical  form.  But  a  new  stage  had  been  reached, 
and  I  thus  referred  at  the  opening  of  the  Session  to  the  proposal 
of  the  Irish  leader: 

"That  plan  is  this — that  exclusively  Irish  affairs  are  to  be 
judged  in  Ireland,  and  that  then  the  Irish  members  are  to  come  to 
the  Imperial  Parliament  and  to  judge  as  they  may  think  fit  of  the 
general  affairs  of  the  Empire,  and  also  of  affairs  exclusively  English 
and  Scotch  [Mr.  Butt :  No,  No.]  It  is  all  very  well  for  gentle- 
men to  cry  '  No '  when  the  blot  has  been  hit  by  the  honorable 
gentleman  opposite."  (Mr.  Newdegate).  .  .  . 

"  I  cannot  quit  this  subject  without  recording  the  satisfaction 
with  which  I  heard  one  declaration  made  by  the  right  honorable 
gentleman  who  seconded  the  amendment  (Mr.  Brooks).  My  hon- 
orable and  learned  friend  said,  that  Ireland  has  entirely  given  up 
the  idea  of  separation  from  this  country.''' 

Thus  I  again  accepted  without  qualification  the  principle  that 
Home  Rule  had  no  necessary  connection  with  separation  ;  and  took 
my  objection  simply  to  a  proposal  that  Irishmen  should  deal  ex- 
clusively with  their  own  affairs,  and  also,  jointly,  with  ours. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Butt,  Mr.  Shaw  became  the  leader  of  his 
party,  and  in  1884  delivered  an  exposition  of  his  views  in  a  spirit 
so  frank  and  loyal  to  the  Constitution,  that  I  felt  it  my  duty  at 
once  to  meet  such  an  utterance  in  a  friendly  manner.  I  could  not 
indeed,  consistently  with  the  conditions  I  have  laid  down,  make 
his  opinion  my  own.  But  I  extract  a  portion  of  my  reference  to 
his  speech,  as  it  is  reported. 


The  Irish  Question.  497 

"  I  must  say  that  the  spirit  of  thorough  manliness  in  which  he 
approaches  this  question,  and  which  he  unites  with  a  spirit  of 
thorough  kindliness  to  us,  and  with  an  evident  disposition  to 
respect  both  the  functions  of  this  House,  and  the  spirit  of  the  Eng- 
lish Constitution,  does  give  hope  that  if  the  relations  between 
England  and  Ireland  are  to  become  thoroughly  satisfactory,  the 
most  important  contribution  to  that  essential  end  will  have  been 
made  by  my  honorable  friend,  and  those  who  speak  like  him." 

In  a  speech  at  the  Guildhall,  on  receiving  an  address,  I  reverted 
to  the  subject  of  Home  Rule.  This  was  the  period  (October,  1881) 
when  I  deemed  it  my  duty  more  than  once  to  denounce  in  strong 
terms  the  movement  against  rent  in  Ireland,  and  with  it  the 
extravagant  claims  which  seemed  to  me  to  be  made  in  the  name  of 
National  Independence.  Yet  I  then  spoke  as  follows : 

"  It  is  not  on  any  point  connected  with  the  exercise  of  local  gov- 
ernment in  Ireland ;  it  is  not  even  on  any  point  connected  with 
what  is  popularly  known  in  that  country  as  Home  Rule,  and 
which  may  be  understood  in  any  one  of  a  hundred  senses,  some  of 
them  perfectly  acceptable,  and  even  desirable,  others  of  them  mis- 
chievous and  revolutionary — it  is  not  upon  any  of  those  points  that 
we  are  at  present  at  issue.  With  regard  to  local  government  in 
Ireland,  after  what  I  have  said  of  local  government  in  general, 
and  its  immeasurable  benefits,  you  will  not  be  surprised  if  I  say 
that  I  for  one  will  hail  with  satisfaction  and  delight  any  measure 
of  local  government  for  Ireland,  or  for  any  portion  of  the  country, 
provided  only  that  it  conform  to  this  one  condition,  that  it  shall  not 
break  down  or  impair  the  supremacy  of  the  Imperial  Parliament." 

Once  more  I  entered  on  the  subject,  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
on  February  9,  1882.  I  referred  to  the  party  led  then,  as  now, 
by  Mr.  Parnell.  The  citation  is  from  Hansard  : 

"  Neither  they,  nor  so  far  as  I  know  Mr.  Butt  before  them,  nor 
so  far  as  I  know  Mr.  O'Connell  before  him,  ever  distinctly  ex- 
plained, in  an  intelligible  and  practicable  form,  the  manner  in 
which  the  real  knot  of  this  question  was  to  be  untied.  The  prin- 
ciple upon  which  the  honorable  members  propose  to  proceed  is  this — 
that  purely  Irish  matters  should  be  dealt  with  by  a  purely  Irish 
authority,  and  that  purely  Imperial  matters  should  be  dealt  with 
by  an  Imperial  Chamber  in  which  Ireland  is  to  be  represented. 
32 


498  The  Irish  Question. 

But  they  have  not  told  us  by  what  authority  it  is  to  be  determined 
what  matters,  when  taken  one  by  one,  are  Irish,  and  what  matters 
are  Imperial. 

"  Until,  Sir,  they  lay  before  this  House  a  plan  in  which  they  go 
to  the  very  bottom  of  that  subject,  and  give  us  to  understand  in 
what  manner  that  division  of  jurisdiction  is  to  be  accomplished, 
the  practical  consideration  of  this  subject  cannot  really  be  arrived 
at,  and,  for  my  own  part,  I  know  not  how  any  effective  judgment 
upon  it  can  be  pronounced.  Whatever  may  be  the  outcome  of  the 
honorable  member's  proposal,  of  this  I  am  well  convinced,  that  neither 
this  House  of  Commons,  nor  any  other  that  may  succeed  it,  will  at 
any  time  assent  to  any  measure  by  which  the  one  paramount  Cen- 
tral Authority,  necessary  for  holding  together  in  perfect  union  and 
compactness  this  great  Empire,  can  possibly  be  either  in  the  great- 
est or  the  slightest  degree  impaired. 

"  We  are  not  to  depart  from  that  principle ;  and  what  I  put  to  the 
honorable  gentleman  who  has  just  sat  down,  and  to  the  honorable 
member  who  preceded  him  is  this — that  their  first  duty  to  us  and  their 
first  duty  to  themselves,  their  first  obligation  in  the  prosecution  of  the 
purpose  which  they  have  in  view — namely,  the  purpose  of  securing 
the  management  of  purely  Irish  affairs  by  Irish  hands — is  to  point 
out  to  us  by  what  authority,  and  by  what  instrument,  affairs  purely 
Irish  are  to  be  divided  and  distinguished,  in  order  that  they  may 
be  appropriately  and  separately  dealt  with  from  those  Imperial 
affairs  and  interests  which  they  have  frankly  admitted  must  remain 
in  the  hands  of  the  Imperial  Parliament." 

Mr.  Plunkett  hereupon  stated  that  he  had  taken  down  my  words, 
and  that  he  could  only  understand  them  as  an  invitation  to  Irish 
members  to  re-open  the  question  of  Home  Rule.  Nor  did  he  see 
how  I  could  after  using  such  words  resist  a  motion  for  a  Commit- 
tee on  the  subject.  To  any  and  every  plan  for  referring  such  a 
subject  to  a  Committee  of  Parliament  I  have  at  all  times  been  op- 
posed. But  Mr.  Plunkett's  meaning  was  evident,  nor  could  I  dis- 
pute the  substance  of  his  interpretation. 

I  will  not  weary  my  reader  by  adding  to  citations  by  which  his 
patience  has  already  been  so  severely  tried.  But  I  ask  him  to 
remember  that  down  to  this  time  no  safe-guarding  definition  of 
Home  Rule  had  been  supplied,  and  no  demand,  in  the  constitu- 


The  Irish  Question.  499 

tional  sense,  had  been  made  by  the  Irish  nation.  I  beg  him  then, 
after  he  has  read  the  foregoing  declarations,  to  place  himself  for  a 
single  moment  in  my  position,  as  one  who  thought  conditions  to  be 
indispensable,  but  also  thought  that  the  question  might  under  con- 
ditions be  entertained,  and  then  to  ask  himself  whether  it  was  pos- 
sible more  carefully  to  indicate  in  outline  the  limits  within  which 
the  subject  of  Irish  self-government  might,  and  beyond  which  it 
might  not,  legitimately  be  considered,  and  whether  it  is  anything 
less  than  absurd  to  impute  to  me  that  my  "  principles  "  forbade  me 
to  promote  it  ? 

I  next  pass  to  the  period  preceding  the  election  of  1885.  It 
had  now  become  morally  certain  that  Ireland  would,  through  a 
vast  majority  of  her  representatives,  present  a  demand  in  the  Na- 
tional sense.  But  no  light  had  been  thrown,  to  my  knowledge, 
upon  the  question  what  that  demand  would  be.  Further,  not  only 
was  there  a  Tory  Government  in  office,  but  one  which  owed  much 
to  Mr.  Parnell,  and  which  was  supposed  to  have  given  him, 
through  its  Lord  Lieutenant  or  otherwise,  assurances  respecting 
Irish  Government,  which  he  had  deemed  more  or  less  satisfactory. 

Under  these  circumstances,  I  conceived  that  my  duty  was  clear, 
and  that  it  was  summed  up  in  certain  particulars.  They  were 
these.  To  do  nothing  to  hinder  the  prosecution  of  the  question  by 
the  Tory  Government  if  it  should  continue  in  office  (of  course 
without  prejudice  to  my  making  all  the  efforts  in  my  power  to 
procure  a  Liberal  majority).  Entirely  to  avoid  any  language 
which  would  place  the  question  in  the  category  of  party  measures. 
But  to  use  my  best  efforts  to  impress  the  public  mind,  and  especi- 
ally the  Liberal  mind,  with  the  supreme  importance,  and  the 
probable  urgency,  of  the  question.  And  lastly,  to  lay  down  the 
principle  on  which  it  should  be  dealt  with.  These  rules  of  action 
applied  to  the  circumstances  of  the  hour  those  governing  prin- 
ciples which  I  have  above  enumerated.  I  proceeded  on  them  as 
follows : 

It  was  impossible  for  me,  while  ignorant  of  the  nature  and 
limits  of  the  Irish  demand,  to  give  an  opinion  upon  it ;  and  even 
had  it  been  possible,  it  would  have  been  in  conflict  with  the  con- 
dition which  I  have  numbered  as  the  fifth.  But,  to  give  em- 
phasis to  the  importance  of  the  question,  I  severed  it  in  my 


500  The  Irish  Question. 

Address  from  the  general  subject  of  Local  Government  for  the 
three  kingdoms.  Ireland  had  arrived,  I  said,  at  an  important 
epoch  in  her  history ;  she  had  claims  to  a  special  interpretation  of 
the  principles  of  Local  Government.  It  would  be  the  solution  of 
a  problem,  testing  the  political  genius  of  these  nations.  Woe  be  to 
the  man  who  should  prevent  or  retard  the  consummation.  It 
would  probably  throw  into  the  shade  all  the  important  measures, 
which  in  my  Address  I  had  set  out  as  ripe  for  action.  And  the 
subject  is  one  "  which  goes  down  to  the  very  roots  and  foundations 
of  our  whole  civil  and  political  constitution."  And  yet  it  has  been 
said,  strangely  enough,  that  I  gave  no  indication  to  my  friends, 
except  of  Local  Government  in  the  sense  of  County  Government 
for  Ireland. 

Lastly,  I  laid  down,  over  and  over  again,  the  principle  on  which 
we  ought  to  proceed.  It  was  to  give  to  Ireland  everything  which 
was  compatible  with  "  the  Supremacy  of  the  Crown,  the  Unity  of 
the  Empire,  and  all  the  authority  of  Parliament  necessary  for  the 
conservation  of  that  Unity."  It  appears  to  me  that  the  whole  of 
the  provisions  of  the  Irish  Government  Bill,  lately  buried,  but 
perhaps  not  altogether  dead,  lies  well  within  these  lines,  and  that 
my  case  thus  far  is  complete. 

What  I  have  in  these  pages  urged  has  been  a  defence  against  a 
charge  of  reticence.  On  the  charge  of  precipitancy  I  need  not 
bestow  many  words.  What  antagonists  call  precipitancy  I  call 
promptitude.  Had  Mr.  Pitt  in  1801  carried  Roman  Catholic 
Emancipation,  as  we  suppose  he  wished,  many  an  Englishman 
would  have  thought  him  precipitate.  Precipitancy,  indeed,  was 
avoided,  but  at  what  cost  ?  For  nine-and-twenty  years  the  ques- 
tion was  trifled  with  on  one  side  the  Channel,  and  left  festering  on 
the  other,  and  emancipation  was  at  last  accepted  as  an  alternative 
to  civil  war. 

Such  is  not  the  manner  in  which  I  desire  to  see  the  business  of 
the  Empire  carried  on.  It  was  not  pondering  the  case  ;  it  was 
paltering  with  the  public  interests.  I  do  not  deny  that  promptitude 
is  disagreeable  in  politics,  as  it  often  is  to  a  doctor's  or  a  surgeon's 
patient.  But  if  the  practitioner  sees  that,  by  every  day's  delay,  the 
malady  takes  hold  and  the  chances  of  health  or  life  are  dwindling 
away,  it  is  his  duty  to  press  the  operation  or  the  drug,  and  the 


The  Irish  Question.  501 

sufferer  will  in  due  time  be  grateful  to  him  for  the  courage  and 
fidelity  which  at  first  he  mistakenly  condemned. 

I  have  endeavored  to  point  out  the  conditions  under  which  alone 
the  question  of  a  statutory  Parliament  for  Ireland  could  be  war- 
rantably  entertained.  The  real  test  may  be  stated  in  one  word: 
the  ripeness  or  unripeness  of  the  question.  All  men  do  not  per- 
ceive, all  men  do  not  appreciate,  ripeness,  with  the  same  degree  of 
readiness  or  aptitude ;  and  the  slow  must  ever  suffer  inconvenience 
in  the  race  of  life.  But,  when  the  subject  once  was  ripe,  the  time 
for  action  had  come.  Just  as  if  it  had  been  a  corn-field,  we  were 
not  to  wait  till  it  was  over-ripe. 

The  healing  of  inveterate  sores  would  only  become  more  difficult, 
the  growth  of  budding  hopes  more  liable  to  be  checked  and  paral- 
ized  by  the  frosts  of  politics.  For  England,  in  her  soft  arm-chair, 
a  leisurely,  very  leisurely  consideration,  with  adjournments  inter- 
posed, as  it  had  been  usual,  so  also  would  have  been  comfortable. 
But  for  Ireland,  in  her  leaky  cabin,  it  was  of  consequence  to  stop 
out  the  weather.  To  miss  the  opportunity  would  have  been  not 
less  clearly  wrong  than  to  refuse  waiting  until  it  came.  The  first 
political  juncture  which  made  action  permissible  also  made  it 
obligatory.  So  much,  then,  for  precipitancy. 

If  I  am  not  egregiously  wrong  in  all  that  has  been  said,  Ireland 
has  now  lying  before  her  a  broad  and  even  way,  in  which  to  walk 
to  the  consummation  of  her  wishes.  Before  her  eyes  is  opened 
that  same  path  of  constitutional  and  peaceful  action,  of  steady, 
free,  and  full  discussion,  which  has  led  England  and  Scotland  to 
the  achievement  of  all  their  pacific  triumphs.  Like  the  walls  of 
Jericho,  falling,  not  in  blood  and  conflagration,  but  at  the  trumpet's 
peal,  so,  under  the  action  of  purely  moral  forces,  have  an  hundred 
fortresses  of  prejudice,  privilege,  and  shallow  proscription,  succes- 
sively given  away. 

It  is  the  potent  spell  of  legality,  which  has  done  all  this,  or 
enabled  it  to  be  done.  The  evil  spirit  of  illegality  and  violence 
has  thus  far  had  no  part  or  lot  in  the  political  action  of  Ireland, 
since,  through  the  Franchise  Act  of  1885,  she  came  into  that 
inheritance  of  adequate  representation,  from  which  she  had  before 
been  barred.  Ireland,  in  her  present  action,  is  not  to  be  held 
responsible  for  those  agrarian  offences,  which  are  in  truth  the  indi- 


502  The  Irish  Question. 

cation  and  symptom  of  her  disease ;  from  which  her  public  opinion 
has,  through  the  recent  beneficial  action,  become  greatly  more 
estranged;  and  to  which  she  herself  ardently  entreats  us  to  apply 
the  only  effectual  remedy,  by  such  a  reconciliation  between  the 
people  and  the  law,  as  is  the  necessary  condition  of  civilized  life. 

The  moderation  of  the  Irish  demands,  as  they  were  presented 
and  understood  in  the  Session  of  1886,  has  been  brightly  reflected 
in  the  calm,  conflicting,  and  constitutional  attitude  of  the  nation. 
I  make  no  specific  reference  to  the  means  that  have  been  used  in 
one  deplorable  case,  under  guilty  recommendations  from  above, 
with  a  view  to  disturbing  this  attitude,  and  arresting  the  progress 
of  the  movement;  for  I  believe  that  the  employment  of  such 
means,  and  the  issuing  of  such  recommendations,  will  eventually 
aid  the  cause  they  were  designed  to  injure.  It  is  true  that,  in  the 
close  of  the  last  century,  the  obstinate  refusal  of  just  demands,  and 
the  deliberate  and  dreadful  acts  of  Ireland's  enemies,  drove  her 
people  widely  into  disaffection,  and  partially  into  the  ways  of  actual 
violence. 

But  she  was  then  down -trodden  and  gagged.  She  has  now  a 
full  constitutional  equipment  of  all  the  means  necessary  for  raising 
and  determining  the  issues  of  moral  force.  She  has  also  the 
strongest  sympathies  within,  as  well  as  beyond,  these  shores  to 
cheer,  moderate,  and  guide  her.  The  position  is  for  her  a  novel 
one,  and  in  its  novelty  lies  its  only  risk.  But  she  is  quick  and 
ready  of  perception;  she  has  the  rapid  comprehensive  glance, 
which  the  generals  she  has  found  for  us  have  shown  on  many  a 
field  of  battle.  The  qualities  she  has  so  eminently  exhibited  this 
year  have  already  earned  for  her  a  rich  reward  in  confidence  and 
good  will.  There  is  no  more  to  ask  of  her.  She  has  only  to 
persevere. 

The  statesmen  who  deemed  coercive  measures  an  absolute  neces- 
sity do  not  now  propose  them,  although  agrarian  crime  has  rather 
increased  and  Ireland  has  been  perturbed  (so  they  said)  by  the  pro- 
posal of  home  rule.  This  is  a  heavy  blow  to  coercion  and  a 
marked  sign  of  progress.  I  am  concerned  to  say  that  on  no  other 
head  do  the  announcements  supply  any  causes  for  congratula- 
tion : 

1.  Large  Irish  subjects,  ripe  for  treatment,  are  to  be  referred  to 


The  Irish  Questim.  503 

commissions  of  inquiry.     This  is  a  policy  (while  social  order  is  in 
question)  of  almost  indefinite  delay. 

2.  Moreover,  while  a  commission  is  to  inquire  whether  the  rates 
of  judicial  rents  are  or  are  not  such  aa  can  be  paid,  the  aid  of  the 
law  for  levying  the  present  rents  in  November  has  been  specially 
and  emphatically  promised.     This  is  a  marked  discouragement  u> 
remissions  of  rent  and  a  powerful  stimulus  to  evictions. 

3.  A  project  has  been  sketched  of  imposing  upon  the  State  the 
payment  of  all  moneys  required  to  meet  the  difference  between 
these  actual  rents  and  what  the  land  can  fairly  bear.     This  project 
is  in  principle  radically  bad,  and  it  would  be  an  act  of  rapine  on 
the  treasury  of  the  country. 

4.  Whereas  the  greatest  evil  of  Ireland  is  that  its  magisterial 
and  administrative  systems  are  felt  to  be  other  than  Irish,  no  pro- 
posal is  made  for  the  reconstruction  of  what  is  known  as  the  Dub- 
lin Castle  government. 

5.  It  is  proposed  to  spend  large  sums  of  public  money  on  public 
works  of  all  kinds  for  the  material  development  of  Ireland  under 
English  authority  and  Dublin  Castle  administration.     This  plan  is 
(1)  in  the  highest  degree  wasteful ;  (2)  it  is  unjust  to  the  British 
taxpayer;   and  (3)  it  is  an  obvious  attempt  to  divert  the  Irish 
nation  by  pecuniary  inducement  from  its  honorable  aim  of  national 
self-government,  and  will  as  such  be  resented. 

6.  The  limitation  of  local  government  in  Ireland  to  what  may  at 
this  moment  be  desired  for  Great  Britain  is  just  to  none  of  our 
nationalities,  rests  upon  no  recognized  principle,  and  is  especially 
an  unjust  limitation  of  the  Irish  national  desire.     In  my  opinion 
such  a  policy  for  dealing  with  the  Irish  question  ought  not  to  be 
and  cannot  be  adopted. 

There  are  at  least  four  great  cases,  which  have  been  placed  on 
record  within  my  memory,  and  in  every  one  of  which  a  Conserva- 
tive Government,  after  having  resisted  a  great  proposal  up  to  the 
moment  immediately  preceding  the  surrender,  then  became  its 
official  sponsor,  and  carried  it  into  law.  They  are  the  cases  of  the 
Test  Act  in  1828,  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Relief  in  1829,  of  Corn 
Law  Repeal  in  1846  (when,  however,  Sir  Robert  Peel  had  done 
all  in  his  power  to  throw  the  conduct  of  the  question  into  Liberal 
hands),  and  of  Extension  of  the  Franchise  in  1867. 


504  The  Irish  Question. 

In  the  last  of  these  cases,  not  only  had  the  measure  been  re- 
sisted, but  a  Liberal  Government  had  been  overthrown  in  the  pre- 
ceding year  on  account  of  a  measure  less  extended,  not  indeed  than 
the  very  meagre  original  proposal  of  1867,  but  than  the  measure 
which,  by  the  strength  of  Liberal  votes,  and  with  the  sanction  of 
the  Derby-Disraeli  Government,  was  eventually  carried. 

It  seems  extremely  doubtful  whether  any  one  of  these  measures 
would  have  been  adopted  through  both  Houses,  except  under  the 
peculiar  conditions  which  secured  for  them  on  each  occasion,  both 
the  aid  of  the  Liberal  vote  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  the 
authority  of  the  Tory  Government  in  the  House  of  Lords. 

One  other  case  stands  alone.  The  Tory  chiefs  of  1832,  with  the 
exception  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  fiercely  resisting  the  Reform  Bill  of 
Lord  Grey,  and  stopping  its  progress  in  their  own  familiar  fortress, 
the  House  of  Lords,  declared  themselves  nevertheless  willing  to 
take  charge  of  the  question.  But  public  indignation  was  too 
strong  to  permit  the  progress  of  the  experiment. 


